social history

Why "History Months" Need to Write Groups Back In to the Story

by E.J. Dionne

  Do efforts to write marginalized figures into the national narrative  "mean that history has been “politicized”? The answer is 'yes' only in the sense that political change always affects how we see history," says the Washington Post columnist. 

The Shift from Norms to Boundaries Explains the Problem of TMI

"Too Much Information" is a social error that arises from the need for individuals to determine their own boundaries and match their expression to others'. But longing for firmer rules of etiquette should be tempered by understanding how those rules were based in ideas about whose voices should be heard. 

Despite the Cultural Differences, There's Common Ground Between Boomers and Zoomers

by Joseph Preston Baratta

Despite the differences in their cultural touchstones, Gen Z faces the yet-incomplete challenge of the Baby Boom generation: uniting the world in novel ways to solve global problems. 

Have Children Changed in Modern America?

by Steven Mintz

A recent argument for the general stability of children over the last century and a half misses the key point that "childhood" has been a fluid concept, and changes in how childhood is understood has necessarily affected the experiences of children. 

Famous and Hidden Women's Friendships that Made History

In the arts, politics, and civil rights activism, here are five friendships among prominent women that helped drive change. 

The Gilded Age's Original "Galentine's Day"

by Anya Jabour

The search for alternatives to the compulsory heterosexual coupledom of Valentine's Day could learn from the example of the "Perfect Little Ladies" of 1890s Rochester, New York.

Thinking in Generational Terms is Holding Us Back

by James Chappel

"A politics that relies on young people to revitalize democracy and address inequality is likely to prove a disappointment."

Manhood, Madness, and Moonshine

by Dillon Carroll

Today's concern for "deaths of despair" among white Americans isn't unprecedented; a wave of alcoholism and temperance advocacy after the Civil War highlighted the relationship between social unsettlement, substance abuse and social reformism.

Passing Time and the Challenge of Catching "Eyewitnesses to History"

by Thomas Doherty

Historians have only recently wised up to the need to capture eyewitness remembrances of events. As the "Greatest Generation" passes and the Baby Boomers age, a cultural historian urges: talk to people while you still can. 

Time to Stop Talking about "Generations"

by Louis Menand

By this light, generations are just a novel way of slicing up the space-time continuum, no more arbitrary. The question, therefore, is not “Are generations real?” The question is “Are they a helpful way to understand anything?”

Are you ready for the Roaring '20s?

by Nicole Hemmer

The end of the pandemic may portend a repeat of the "roaring 20s" a century later. But anyone anticipating a wild party should recall the nativism, racism, and rampant inequality of the era. Can the individual desire to live life to the fullest support a politics of inclusion and equality? 

The Life in "The Simpsons" Is No Longer Attainable

In the 1990s, "The Simpsons" drew humor by putting bizarre dysfunction in the context of middle class suburban banality. Today it's the idea of homeownership paid for by a stable single income that seems outlandish.

From Fish House Punch to Bud Light: America’s Long, Complicated Relationship with Alcohol (Web Event, 12/17)

To mark the centennial of Prohibition, please join AEI’s Kevin R. Kosar for a conversation exploring how alcohol has influenced America’s economy, politics, and culture.

The Struggle to Document COVID-19 for Future Generations

by Pamela Ballinger

Images of suffering have been powerful spurs to humanitarian action in history, but the process has the potential to reinforce messages of fault, blame, and separation. Assembling a visual archive of the age of COVID must avoid those traps to be useful in the future. 

Don’t Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do

by Daniel Hunter

Stop minimizing the work of movements.

How Can Local Government Address Systemic Racism?

Peniel Joseph, one of the nation’s leading civil rights scholars, has studied and written about the history of race and democracy. He has some ideas on how cities and urban areas can begin to dismantle racism.

Re-stabilizing the Middle Class and the Poor: Lessons from the 1930s

by David Stebenne

For a long time it seemed as though the 1930s era of high unemployment was a kind of “great exception” in American history, but now it has appeared again, suddenly and unexpectedly, just as it did in the early 1930s. 

Why We Owe Gay Marriage to an Early Trans Activist

by Eric Cervini

Why isn't Sylvia Rivera a household name?

Professor of History Marc Stein looks back at 50 years of celebration, resistance at LGBT pride parades

The historian and author of “The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History” answers questions about the past, present and future of LGBT pride parades.

The History of the “Riot” Report

by Jill Lepore

How government commissions became alibis for inaction.