Recently Published

Can Evangelicals Be Part of a Pro-Choice Consensus? Lessons from the Past

by Blake Ellis

Despite a flurry of articles questioning the potency of the Christian Right in national politics, the movement continues to demonstrate its stranglehold over Republican politicians. The most recent example of its influence was Republicans’ successful effort to remove birth control funding from Barack Obama’s stimulus package. The provision would have made it easier for states to offer contraception through Medicaid to women who are not currently covered by the program. Despite substa

What We Should Learn from the Founders' Decision to Put Off Hard Choices About Slavery

by Douglas R. Egerton

In the summer of 1800, as white Virginians organized to elevate Thomas Jefferson into the Executive Mansion, slaves in half a dozen counties prepared to r

The End of the Ownership Society?

by Marc Goldwein

In his second inaugural address, President Bush offered a vision of an"ownership society" In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence… To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will… build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance - preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By

Barack Obama Didn’t Win the Presidential Debates – And Neither Did John McCain

by Aaron Zelinsky

The 2008 Presidential Election has passed from current events into recent history. From a broader historical perspective, the 2008 presidential debates had little impact on the two major party nominees. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain committed a slip-up on par with Gerald Ford's supposed gaffe that Poland was"independent." Neither scored the knockout blow of Ronald Reagan's now legendary put down of Jimmy Carter:"There you go again." Neither Sarah Palin nor Joe Biden came close to Lloyd

The Election of Barack Obama and the Politics of Interracial and Same-Sex Marriage

by Peggy Pascoe

The election (and now the inauguration) of Barack Obama has inspired a widespread sense of awe at the scope and scale of change in race relation

Reflections on Rude Behavior at Memorial Museums

by Bonnie J. Morris

     The first time I visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., I was excited to see a series of guest-book journals set out for visitors’ comments. A journal-keeper myself since age twelve, I applaud every opportunity of contributing to the public record. Most tourist sites, restaurants and inns keep a guestbook well-displayed to solicit favorable reviews about food and service. But within the pages of the Holoc

Vertigo Years: Living in an Age of Uncertainty

by Philipp Blom

What a first decade for a century! Even before Wall Street collapsed as the speculation bubble burst there was uncertainty everywhere: the United States was embr

The Relevance of Benjamin Harrison's Presidency

by Charles W. Calhoun

The launching of a new administration inevitably invites attention to past presidents, not only for their impact on the country but also for

The Internet and Jefferson's Moose

by David G. Post

In 1995, I wrote a small essay for the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s then-newfangled “website,” entitled “Jefferson in Cyberspace.”  The thesis was this:  the great

Lunar Man-Bats? Nineteenth Century, Meet the Twenty-First

by Matthew Goodman

In the summer of 1835, a newspaper in New York called the Sun managed to convince a majority of the city’s residents that the

Lincoln's Mistaken Neglect of General George H. Thomas

by Benson Bobrick

Lincoln's deep humanity, innate wisdom, and determined leadership during our nation's most trying time, ensure his marmoreal greatness against all detractors, wh

The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln: An interview with John Stauffer

by David Liebers

John Stauffer is Chair of the History of American Civilization at Harvard University.  He is a leading scholar of slavery, protest and interracial relations.  Among his seven books (authored and edited)

The “Nixon Tapes,” an Author, and the American Historical Review

by Robert A. Schneider

Normally, an editor does not expect to learn about the submission of an article to his journal from the front page of the nation’s leading newspaper. Normally, an editor would reasonably expect that a journalist reporting for this paper would ask for the editor’s comments on the nature of the submission. Normally, he would not expect the contents of his letter of rejection to the author of the submission to be broadcast both by the newspaper in question and the major web outlet o

Food For Peace: Eisenhower's Unsung Initiative Can Be Obama's Most Powerful Tool for Peace

by William Lambers

As President Obama tackles enormous foreign policy challenges, he would be well-advised to extract good ideas from past administrations and carry forward this "better part of history." At least one example comes from the Eisenhower administration, a time when the Cold War and nuclear weapons' fears dominated the world scene. During this turbulent period, President Eisenhower called for a peace conference. Representatives from different countries gathered t

Black History Month in the Obama Era

by Jacqueline Bacon

After watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama with my sons in the auditorium of their elementary school, I was informed triumphantly by one of my older son’s classmates, “The history books are outdated!” The literal truth that history is made before it is committed to the volumes in our

Obama’s Opportunity to be a Transformational Leader

by John W. Sloan

The election of Barack Obama has generated speculation that he can—and will—emulate the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the manne

A New Era or the New Deal?

by Nick Underwood

President Barack Obama aims to “hit the ground running” in his attempt to fix the current economic situation.  This immediacy has enabled a public discussion that equates Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan (ARRP) with that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first “New Deal” and the “Three Rs”—Relief, Reform, and Recovery.  Little discussion, however, has been made of three Rs themselves, muddying the comparisons between

The Price Civilians Pay for Liberation

by William I. Hitchcock

Do civilian casualties matter in a just war? The terrible toll of civilian lives in Afghanistan caused by allied air and missile strikes and ground operations against the Taliban poses this question on a regular basis.

A Bicentennial for Two Great Emancipators

by Steven Conn

Abraham Lincoln, The Great Emancipator, has been much on our minds recently as Barack Obama moved into the White House. Exactly 200 years after Lincoln's birth, Obama's presidency is one fulfillment of the work Lincoln started. Lincoln shares his birthday with Charles Darwin, the other Great Emancipator of the 19th century. Though in different ways, each liberated us from the traditions of the past. Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were exact contemporaries. Both were born o

Jews, Commerce and Controversy

by Jonathan Karp

As the story of Bernie Madoff ‘s massive fraud began to circulate following his December 11 arrest, many Jews experienced a profound sense