Roundup

The Biden Problem

by Andrew Meyer

Why Biden's "record player" answer was so concerning. 

The Only Way to End ‘Endless War’

by Stephen Wertheim

To get serious about stopping endless war, American leaders must do what they most resist: end America’s commitment to armed supremacy and embrace a world of pluralism and peace.

There Are No Nostalgic Nazi Memorials in Germany

by Susan Neiman

Americans could learn from how drastically German society has moved away from the nadir of its history.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.

Revisiting the Talented Tenth: On Black Ivy League Activism

by Zebulon Vance Miletsky

A discussion of W.E.B. Du Bois and the "talented tenth" in contemporary America.  

The history lesson 2020 Democrats can't afford to ignore

by Thomas Balcerski

By studying the campaign messaging and strategies from prior presidential elections, the Democrats can help to clarify what has worked well and what has failed miserably in the past

When Texas was the national leader in gun control

by Brennan Gardner Rivas

How the land of gunslinger mythology regulated weapons to reduce violence

Why do we keep talking about Joe Biden's age?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Age is seen as a weakness that we unfairly ascribe to millions of people. And that prejudice enfeebles all of us, no matter how old we are.

The Necessary Radicalism of Bernie Sanders

by Jamelle Bouie

Conflict was the engine of labor reform in the 1930s. And mass strikes and picketing, in particular, pushed the federal government to act.

How the Long History of Human Violence Explains Why the Internet Causes So Much Chaos

by Mike Martin

Why is there so much chaos? The history of violence offers one possible answer.

Busing Ended 20 Years Ago. Today Our Schools Are Segregated Once Again

by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

Any desegregation plans must be a shared burden. But are we willing to take it on?

Why Southern white women vote against feminism

by Angie Maxwell

The often overlooked question that explains why discussion of a gender gap leads us astray.  

On 9/11, Luck Meant Everything

by Garrett M. Graff

When the terrorist attacks happened, trivial decisions spared people’s lives—or sealed their fate.

How Africa is transforming the Catholic Church

by Elizabeth A. Foster

Pope Francis’s visit to Africa highlights the growing trend toward decolonizing Catholicism

On or off, peace talks with the Taliban spell disaster for Afghanistan

by Ali A. Olomi

With tweets on Saturday, President Trump killed secretly planned peace talks with the Taliban at Camp David. If history is any indication, the consequences of the Trump administration’s reckless attempt at an agreement and even hastier reversal will be borne out by Afghans themselves — a reality that Afghans know all too well.

The Electoral College was Terrible from the Start

by Garrett Epps

Epps doubts that Alexander Hamilton could foresee the consequences of an electoral college.

The Living Literature of War

by Nick Turse

All-too-human stories can be “written” on our bodies as well as documents. 

The Lost Promise of Reconstruction

by Eric Foner

Can we reanimate the dream of freedom that Congress tried to enact in the wake of the Civil War?

If We Want to Address the Crisis of Veteran Suicide, We Must Acknowledge Its History

by Simon Harold Walker

The growing issue of veteran suicide and how to solve it rarely focuses on the history of the problem.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.