Recently Published

Honor Those Lost By Working for Peace

by William Lambers

The annual remembrance of the war dead at Memorial Day is also a call to serve those who today are threatened by war and attendant hunger. 

Originalism, History, and Religiosity are the Faults of Alito's Reasoning in Dobbs

by Robert Spitzer

Justice Alito wrote in Dobbs that Roe v. Wade was “egregiously wrong from the start.” But that tart conclusion more aptly applies to the draft verdict of the good justice.

There is a Real "Great Replacement" – But Not the One the Right Talks About

by Guy Lancaster

Arkansas history shows how the true Great Replacement in the United States has been organized by oligarchs hoping to use immigrant labor to undercut Black people's demands for economic fairness and human rights. 

A Century After its Dedication, the Lincoln Memorial's Meaning is Still Contested

by Patrick Malone

From its dedication to the present, the meaning and legacy of Lincoln and his memorial have been the focus of struggle between those who see Lincoln as the savior of the Union and those who claim him as the great emancipator.

Samuel Eliot Morison's 1950 Address Still Has Lessons About Subjectivity (Though Not All He Intended)

by Bruce Dearstyne

Addressing the AHA in 1950, Morison made a case that historians' authority depended on their detachment from the political controversies and cultural trends of their day; the advice can be valuable today if we also recognize Morison himself practiced it imperfectly.

California Isn't a Liberal Sanctuary where Asian Americans are Concerned

by Hao Huang

Anti-Chinese racism and violence has always been part of the nightmare underside of the California dream. 

Jane Stanford's Murder Shows the Moral Vacuum of Gilded Age Fortune and Philanthropy

by Richard White

Jane Stanford's murder by poisoning in 1905 was part of a long chain of inequities and moral abdications that attended the great Gilded Age fortunes at every step, from their accumulation to their dispersal as philanthropy. 

How We Told the Ongoing Story of Title IX

by Laura Mogulescu

A curator and her team chose to center the work of activists who pushed to determine the scope and meaning of Title IX's prohibition on sex discrimination in education throughout the law's 50-year history. Their exhibit is now open at the New-York Historical Society.

Excerpt: Inside the Gwangju Uprising, a Key Moment for South Korean Democracy

by Gwangju Democratization Movement Commemoration Committee

Government forces sprung into action to violently suppress a pro-democracy protest of students and workers in Gwangju, South Korea on May 18, 1980. 

Why Andrew Jackson Believed in Gun Control

by Anders Walker

Andrew Jackson loved guns, but his correspondence with John C. Calhoun from 1818 shows that he believed that the Second Amendment didn't guarantee an individual right to own them and that regulation was key to public safety. 

The Dangerous Trend of Imperial Nostalgia – It's not Just Russia

by Lawrence Wittner

The embrace of the belief that nations are entitled to reclaim their past dominance underlies Russia's invasion of Ukraine but also is influencing the politics of Britain, France, China, and the United States. A renewed commitment to international cooperation is needed to thwart this dangerous turn. 

Reigniting a Nuclear Arms Race is the Wrong Take-Home from Ukraine

by David P. Barash

A simplistic assumption of nuclear deterrence – that having nuclear weapons protects a nation against aggression – has frequently failed in practice. The Ukraine invasion should be a call to rethink deterrence and move toward abolishing nuclear weapons. 

How Will History Remember Xi?

by Robert Brent Toplin

Despite China's growth as an economic and military force, Xi Jinping's authoritarian government may ultimately be seen as a drag on the nation's prosperity and the flourishing of the Chinese population. 

1968: A Year of Dashed Hopes

by Walter G. Moss

While people seek to confront life's challenges with hope and courage and banish fear and doubt, some years, like 1968, don't make that easy. 

High Crimes and Lingering Consequences: How Land Sale Contracts Looted Black Wealth and Gutted Chicago Communities

by Tiff Beatty

Chicago artist Tonika Lewis Johnson is creating public installations documenting properties where Black residents were subjected to predatory contract home sales, and connecting the past to the present struggles of the city's south and west sides.

Recent Violence Shows the Need to Teach More Asian American History

by Alan J. Singer

The targeting of Asian Americans for violence and harassment shows the need to teach more of the history of Asian ethnic groups and acknowlege legacies of exclusion and discrimination. 

A Century After the First Insulin Injection, It's Time to Make Sure It's Affordable

by Martin Abrahamson and Sanjiv Chopra

The US Senate has the opportunity to honor the legacy of the doctors who pioneered insulin treatment by making sure that everyone who needs this life-saving medicine can afford it. 

Democracy's Enemies are Abroad, but Also at Home

by Jim Sleeper

If neoconservative warnings of a coming global struggle between Russia and "the West" are right, the west must consider what changes it is willing to make to allow for a victory without planetery catastrophe. 

When Will the French Dam Against the Far Right Crack?

by Brian Sandberg

Macron is the latest representative of the French center to call for an electoral coalition to act as a "dam" against the far right. In another French presidential election, the dam has held, but will it endure? 

Ukraine Evokes Past "Eve of Destruction"

by Richard Aquila

In 1960s America, popular songs gradually roused the conscience of many Americans against the war in Vietnam. What forces might make Russia (as well as Ukraine and the west) push away from the brink of unthinkable acts mass destruction?