Roundup

The Story Trap

by Philip Ball

We use neat stories to explain everything from sports matches to symphonies. Is it time to leave the nursery of the mind?

A proclamation against Isis, the party of death

by Simon Schama

Our citizens need an inspiring statement of just what it is we must defend, writes Simon Schama

Obama Doesn't Understand American Indian History

by Peter d’Errico

A careful reading of his recent conversation with author Marilynne Robinson on September 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa, shows he has serious misconceptions.

America, the Not So Promised Land

by Tara Zahra

We conveniently forget that a third of the immigrants who came here a century ago didn’t like what they found — and went back.

What’s Behind Trump’s Wall? Or, What We Can Learn from the Know-Nothings

by Johann Neem

Know-Nothings no doubt focused on immigrants as a way to find someone to blame for America’s problems, but they appealed to many voters because they also spoke to people’s problems.

The One Word That Almost Sunk the Peace Corps

by Emily Cadei

The amazing story of the Peace Corps volunteer whose postcard from Nigeria set off riots.

What George H. W. Bush Got Wrong

by Jeff Shesol

He deserves the praise he's been getting since the publication of the Jon Meacham biography.  But there is this one thing. 

The Hidden Hard-line Side of George H.W. Bush

by Jon Meacham

We know that W. was ready to go it alone in a fight of good vs. evil. Less remembered: His father was, too.

How the Bushes Misunderstood Cheney

by Nicholas Lemann

They didn't understand that Cheney had his own agenda.

The real secret to Bernie Sanders’ success

by Alexander Heffner

In choosing to run as a Democrat, Sanders has clearly learned a lesson from Henry Wallace’s unsuccessful 1948 third-party presidential campaign.

Roundup Top 10!

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

Social Media News: What Historians Are Talking About

This week ... Jelani Cobb, Simon Schama, Tim Naftali, Peniel Joseph. 

Pop Culture Roundup: This Week

This week ... Alice in Wonderland, Disney, Hamilton, Maya Angelou.

How Filipino WWII Soldiers Were Written Out of History

by Rosie Cima

From 1941-1944, hundreds of thousands of Filipino soldiers fought and died under the command of American generals against the Japanese in the Philippines, but their role has largely been erased from the history books.

The Invisible Library

by John Seabrook

Can digital technology make the Herculaneum scrolls legible after two thousand years?

Why Does This Georgia Town Honor One of America's Worst War Criminals?

by Greg Bailey

The monument to Confederate officer Henry Wirz is down the road from the graveyard of his many victims.

The Origin of “In God We Trust”

by Thomas Kidd

The national motto “In God We Trust” has a complicated and contested history.

In the Early 1900s, Robber Barons Bought Dozens of Centuries-Old European Buildings. Where is Medieval America Now?

by Brianna Nofil and Jake Purcell

They lie scattered around the country, a hidden patchwork of mostly-illegal monasteries and mansions whose history has been largely forgotten.

Politics and the New Machine

by Jill Lepore

What the turn from polls to data science means for democracy.

How England's Worst King Spawned Capitalism

by Simon Constable

Henry VIII’s decision to dissolve hundreds of monasteries was a revolutionary act by a monarch spouting the need for monastic reform. What this despot with outsize appetites could not have foreseen is that by selling off the monks’ land, he opened it to market forces.