Recently Published

50 Years Later: Eyewitness to the Last Day of US Military Command in Vietnam

by Arnold Isaacs

In this excerpt, a journalist observes the tragicomic exit of the last US military command in Vietnam 50 years ago on March 29, 1973.

A Small Village's History During the Third Reich Raises Big Questions about Complicity

by Julia Boyd

A new history of the personal experiences of the residents of a small Bavarian village show that, while Nazism was driven by ideologues, it was able to maintain power because the personal risks of nonsupport convinced many to put their moral objections aside.

Learning from Historical Fiction: A Family Tale Reveals a Brief Multicultural Moment of the American West

by Alix Christie

One novelist's work adapting the story of her 19th century forebears (the last Hudson's Bay Company trader in the US, his Nez Perce wife, and the family that they raised) led her to archives, historians, and the challenge of narrating the complexities of the period when conquest supplanted a hybrid indigenous-European society between the Rockies and the Pacific. 

This Year Marks the 50th Anniversary of a Dark Episode in the History of Sports Stadiums

by Matthew Kastel

As Americans return to stadiums with hope and joy at baseball's Opening Day, it's worth remembering that stadiums have been the sites of absurd moments of political theater and dire human rights abuses. 

Staging History to Make History: Theater and the Road to the Good Friday Agreement

by Marilynn Richtarik

Brian Friel's play "Making History" wasn't faithful to the facts of the life of Hugh O'Neill, a 16th century chieftain who had symbolized Irish resistance to colonization. But, as an influential artist, Friel purposefully substituted myths of cultural hybridity for myths of nationalism to make the negotiation of peace palatable to his friends in politics.

O'Hanlon: Policymakers Need to Know More History

by James Thornton Harris

"Studying war in this way should humble us about our ability to control and contain it in the future," says the Brookings Institution scholar, who urges security policymakers to read as much history as they can. 

The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon

by Zachary Jonathan Jacobson

Richard Nixon's famed foreign policy ruse—encouraging adversaries to think him capable of seemingly insane decisions—had one essential component: Nixon himself, and his commitment to the tightrope-walking performance. 

ChatGPT Wants to Join SEIU in Breakthrough for Organized Labor

by Jim Castagnera

Business owners looking to replace workers with automation beware; ChatGPT is a union bot. 

The History of State Interposition Shows Federalism is a Deliberative Process, not a Set of Rules

by Christian G. Fritz

The efforts of state legislatures to oppose federal law have been varied. In sum, they show that the Supreme Court cannot dictate the distribution of power under federalism; Americans will have to keep figuring it out as we go, through political deliberation.

An American Witness to the European Movement Against the Iraq Invasion

by Brian Sandberg

The European Social Forum, held in Florence in November 2002, didn't stop the US invasion of Iraq. But it did usher in an era of pan-european civic action that remains powerful today. 

Israel and Palestine Have a Way Forward. Will They Choose It?

by Alon Ben-Meir

It is time for Israel and the Palestinians to face the bittersweet truth and accept certain realities on the ground that neither side can change short of a calamity. These inescapable realities will frame the contours of a peace agreement in the context of an Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian confederation.  

H.W. Brands on Ben Barnes's "Revelation" about the Iran Hostage Crisis

"In effect, Connally and Casey were telling the Iranians not to do something the Iranians had no intention of doing."

The Curious History of Ulysses Grant's Great Grandfather

by John Reeves

The military experiences of Noah Grant in the French and Indian War typified changes in military strategy in the Americas and cemented a family commitment to the military that drove his great grandson Ulysses. 

The Nixon Library's Vietnam Exhibition Obscures the Truth about the War's End

by Brian Robertson

The exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords chooses its sources selectively to present the negotiations as the product of Nixon's grand strategy, ignoring the role of domestic political machination. 

Censoring History Education Goes Hand in Hand with Democratic Backsliding

by Julia Boechat Machado and Ruben Zeeman

Regimes in the Philippines, India and Brazil have recently tried to censor the teaching of history in service of their poltical goals and claims to power. The pushback by scholars in these countries should inspire historians in Florida and elsewhere to resist the political censorship of research and teaching. 

Keri Leigh Merritt on the Politics of Grief and the Power of Historians' Witness to COVID

Three years since the public became aware of the seriousness of the COVID pandemic, a recent collection of essays turns the skills of historians toward reflection on grief, survival, and connecting understanding of the past to a better collective future.

Irish Legend Should Inspire the Fight Against Famine Today

by William Lambers

The Irish show Riverdance has incorporated elements of legend derived from the Irish experience of famine, and raised funds to help victims of hunger around the world, an example to follow at St. Patrick's Day. 

How The Irish Saved Wellington at Waterloo

by Brendan Farrell

For centuries, the Irish provided manpower to the British military, never more notably than on June 18, 1815. 

What Makes a Rebel Into a Hero?

by Stephen Dando-Collins

The same political process that made a hero out of the rebel Julius Caesar made villains out of his assassins, and burnished the reputations of some other rebels against the Roman Empire. 

Another Casualty of the Academic Job Market? The Relatable Professor

by Elizabeth Stice

As the academic job market demands a degree of excellence and achievement in young scholars that was unknown for earlier generations of faculty, are the shrinking ranks of the faculty being filled with professors who struggle to relate to their students?