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Chattanooga Struggles to Heal the Scars of a Lynching

by Peter Canellos

"In a time of mistrust along racial lines, the initiative in Chattanooga is a model for other communities. It demonstrates that agreed-upon facts can be a precursor to recovery."

Superweeds are Here

After a generation of use, agricultural herbicides have pushed weeds to evolve resistance. Industrial agriculture may be at risk. 

Megachurches like John MacArthur's Led Evangelical Resistance to COVID Mandates

by John Fea

Historian John Fea rounds up recent writing on the role of star pastors in directing some evangelical churches toward resistance to pandemic measures while other churches engaged with meeting their members' health needs. 

Who Owns Uncle Ben?

by Shane Mitchell

"Why would anyone preserve a crop, no matter how flavorful and aromatic, with such a disturbing heritage?" Shane Mitchell examines why.

The First Casualty in the War on Critical Race Theory

"I don’t ask the students to subscribe to any ideas. I don’t ask them to base their opinions on materials that we read. I just ask that they critically evaluate it and understand it. We evaluate claims. That’s all that we do." 

Selling the Story of Disinformation

Today's concern with "disinformation" has roots in the postwar advertising industry, but do programs to fight it repeat faulty ideas about information and persuasion that admen created to persuade companies their ads would work? 

MSNBC's Hayes Brown: Vietnam Withdrawal Shows US Needs to Take Care of Afghan Refugees

The program to bring Vietnamese refugees to America after 1975 was unpopular when it passed. It was still right, argues Hayes Brown.

The Nine: How These Black Ballplayers' Stories Show a Changing Game and Country

The stories of nine Black baseball players, from Hall of Famer Willie Mays to up-and-coming Tim Anderson, reveal much about changes in the game and the nation. 

New Documentary Asks Why Obsession with Hitler Endures

"Why take 90 minutes to warn everyone yet again about Hitler, they wonder, when every mention of him only seems to do more harm than good?"

America Has a Drinking Problem

The shifting social setting of American alcohol consumption, as much as its volume, is cause for concern. 

Comparing Images of Helicopters Leaving Saigon and Kabul is Too Simplistic

Post Art and Architecture columnist Philip Kennicott examines the history and politics of famous images from 1975 and this week that have been put in dialogue with each other.

The Afghan Security Forces' Collapse Was Years in the Making

“Thinking we could build the military that fast and that well was insane,” an unnamed former U.S. official told government interviewers in 2016.

Britain’s Idyllic Country Houses Reveal a Darker History

About a third of the historic homes managed by Britain's National Trust have been linked to fortunes made through slavery and colonialism. The agency's efforts to present this history has been controversial. 

Post's Margaret Sullivan: After 20 Years of Afghan Debacle, Media Fixed Blame in 2 Hours

The tendency to filter a complex and historically deep story through the perspective of short-term political advantage has been on full display this week, says the Post's media columnist. 

Win for Academic Freedom in Nebraska

"Jeannette Eileen Jones, associate professor of history and ethnic studies at the flagship Lincoln campus, said it's "disingenuous" to paint discussions involving critical race theory or race in general as divisive or anti-American."

Adm. James Stavridis: What We Must Learn from Afghanistan

"First, we must learn and understand the history, culture, and languages of any country in which we seek to intervene – be that militarily or economically."

The Complicated History of One Mississippi Restaurant

Booker Wright, a Black waiter, shocked the community of Greenwood by shedding his genial tableside manner to tell a documentary crew about the burdens of racial subordination. After the film aired, he was assaulted by a police officer and his bar was vandalized.

Conservative Publishers See Gold Rush in "CRT" Controversy

"As the national conversation about racism has become a ferocious battle, conservative publishers see gold in titles catering to the backlash."

Perspective on the History of the Taliban

Wazmah Osman of Temple University discusses how the weekend's events, when the fall of Kabul seemed imminent, and explains why the Taliban's defeat was illusory.

Reassessing Gladys Knight's Talent and Impact

"The scholar Mark Anthony Neal has written that Knight was “the female voice of the Black working class in the 1970s”—more grounded than either the divine Aretha Franklin or the glamorous Diana Ross—and the group’s sensibilities were also working-class."