Do We Want the America of Frederick Douglass or Donald Trump?
By Walter G. Moss
The Latest 
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Jane Addams and Lillian Wald: Imagining Social Justice from the Outside
Michael Bronski
Addams and Wald were women who loved other women and that these relationships – as well as the female friendship networks in which they were involved – were profoundly instrumental to their vision of social justice that changed America.
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The History of the American System of Interrogation
Donald E. McInnis
Were the Central Park Five confessions a freak accident? No: every day, adults and juveniles falsely confess to serious crimes they did not commit. Why?
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"If ever I felt that I ought to be five priests it was that week:" Chaplains in World War 2
John Wukovits
Though they conducted many rigorous tasks, the chaplains cherished the knowledge that they had comforted dying young men, and subsequently their families, in their final moments.
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From the Founding Fathers to Trump: Who Can Be an American?
Donald J. Fraser
Correctly charged as a racist statement, Trump's recent tweets also reflect an age-old question in our history: who can be an American?
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Can Donald Trump Be Compared to Caligula, the Mad Emperor of Rome?
Stephen Dando-Collins
Both men rid themselves of senior advisers who restrained them.
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The Beginning of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic – and One Doctor's Search for a Cure
Seema Yasmin
It was unparalleled, this confluence of public health, politics, clinical medicine, and public anxiety. The unknown disease was spreading faster than imagined. Humanity had never seen anything like it.
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Climate Change and the Last Great Awakening
Douglas S. Harvey
The Last Great Awakening, if it is to be massive and successful, must involve profoundly altering our personal behaviors and inner lives while seriously committing to living in a sustainable way.
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Exploring the Curious Sources of Medieval Law: An Interview with Acclaimed Historian Robin Chapman Stacy
Robin Lindley
An Interview with Acclaimed Historian Robin Chapman Stacey on Law and the Imagination in Medieval Wales and More
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The Power of Microhistory: An Interview with Bancroft Prize Winner Douglas Winiarski
Elisabeth Pearson
"I think my book will resonate with readers attuned to the politics of religious difference and the troubling connections between religion and violence in our own times."
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History Provides a Critical Thinking ‘Toolbox’ for Students: An Interview with Ortal-Paz Saar
Erik Moshe
“It may not be long before distinguishing true history from its other forms becomes impossible, and worse: irrelevant. My hope is that we, and the student generations we help shaping, will be able to prevent this.”
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Apollo: America’s Moonshot and the Power of a National Project
David Carlin
President Kennedy understood that his “goal [would] serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” We need similar thinking today.
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Blog
What is a Concentration Camp?
Steve Hochstadt
"A new argument has broken out over the Holocaust, or more precisely, over references to the Holocaust in contemporary life. The sequence of events is revealing about politics, but not especia...
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Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
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The Truth About the Holocaust and Holocaust Education
Ira Bedzow and Stacy Gallin
A high school principal was removed from his position after refusing to admit that the Holocaust was a “factual, historical event.” This is not only unacceptable, it is irresponsible. One does not need to be a professional historian to know that the Holocaust occurred.
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American Billionaires' Ties to Moscow Go Back Decades
Harvey Klehr
Former Fairbanks Whitney CEO David Karr continued the connection between American businessman and Russia throughout the twentieth century.
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Alexa: What Can Apollo 11 Teach Us About Our Relationship with Technology?
Tracy Dahlby
The fact that we pulled off Apollo 11 at all is a testament to American ingenuity and pluck. Yet while the successful moon landing decided the race for space in America’s favor, it didn’t undo our subliminal angst about the tightening embrace of technology.
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HBO’s Chernobyl and the Rendering of History
Walter G. Moss
The value of HBO’s Chernobyl is not just what it tells us about the failings of the Soviet system. It offers much more.
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Say It Ain't So Joe: Strategies of Segregation in Ventura County
Frank P. Barajas
The desegregation busing laws that Joe Biden opposed in the 1970s have given way to "a more insidious segregation" in this California community today.
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Delightful but Dizzying Romp as the 17th Century Meets the 1950s
Bruce Chadwick
There is merriment galore in this new production of William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, that just opened at the Shakespeare & Co. theater in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshires.
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Will We all Survive by the Skin of Our Teeth?
Bruce Chadwick
The Skin of Our Teeth is a colossal success, a perceptive look back to the past and to the future and from post-World War II life to the present day and to our future, too.
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Mary Jo Kopechne’s Legacy
William C. Kashatus
This weeks marks the 50th anniversary of the night Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove his black Oldsmobile off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island. His 28-year-old passenger was killed in the accident.
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Billionaires and American Politics
Lawrence Wittner
Big money politics in America has always existed, but the influence of billionaires has become increasingly influential in recent years.
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5 Times Presidents Lost Big in the Midterms But Won (or nearly won) Reelection
Donne Levy
While presidents have previously overcome midterm election losses, Trump isn’t following any of the previously established paths to rebound and win reelection.
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The Civil War Battle Decided By A General's Mistakes
M. Andrew Holowchak
The battle for Lynchburg, Virginia, a pivotal city in the Civil War, was decided by one general's mistakes.
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Blog
What Does It Mean to Be Patriotic?
Steve Hochstadt
A survey one year ago showed that 72% of Republicans rated themselves “very patriotic”, whil...
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The 2020 Election Presents a Unique Opportunity to Elect a “New Generation of Leadership”
Ronald L. Feinman
Promoting change and uniqueness in political leadership could result in higher voter turnout and potentially would enhance efforts to address the challenges of the 21st century.
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Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
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DJ Alan Freed: The Inventor of Rock and Roll
Bruce Chadwick
Rock and Roll Man is a treasure house of entertainment history and the payola scandal.
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Jimmy Carter, Public Historian
Evan A. Kutzler
The work that the Carters do at the local level meets the National Council on Public History's inclusive definition of the field: "public history describes the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world."
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Fictional History, Patriotism, and the Fight for Scottish Independence
LuAnn McCracken Fletcher
As promoters of Scotland as a tourist destination continue to embrace “tartan heritage” in an effort to support Scotland’s important tourist industry, they unwittingly reinforce a version of history that serves the purpose of political propaganda, rather than disseminating a nuanced understanding of Scotland’s past.
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Blog
Gresham's Law of Reading: Bad Reading Drives Out Good
Jim Loewen
On my last day on earth, however, I shall be sad if I have not finished Cloud Atlas. I doubt I'll lament not having finished the latest AARP.
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Flight Girls: Remembering World War 2's Women Airforce Service Pilots
Noelle Salazar
"I was stunned by anecdotes of bravery, death and outright misogyny. And I was baffled the subjects of these stories had tried to be heard, but still, seventy-seven years later, for the most part were unknown to the greater public."
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Report on the National Strategy Meeting of Historians Convened by Historians for Peace and Justice
Margaret Power
Close to fifty historians attended the day-long National Strategy Meeting of Historians at Columbia University on May 28, 2019.
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The End of Humanitarian Intervention? A Debate at the Oxford Union With Historian David Gibbs and Michael Chertoff
David N. Gibbs
Michael Chertoff -- former Secretary of Homeland Security during the presidency of George W. Bush and coauthor of the USA Patriot Act – defended humanitarian intervention; Gibbs argued against the practice.
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Historian Ian Reifowitz on How the Race-Baiting Invective of Rush Limbaugh on the Obama Presidency Led to Trump
Robin Lindley
Reifowitz's latest book traces the election of Donald Trump and the recent rise in white supremacist activity to the incendiary language of racism that the right-wing relies on to win politically.
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Charles Reich and The Greening of America – an Appreciation
James Thornton Harris
Charles Reich, author of The Greening of America, passed away last month at the age of 91.Reich’s book, a combination of history, sociology and philosophy struck a chord in a somber time of war and national protest.
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Who Says Historians Can’t Travel Back in Time?
Erik Moshe
“Both astrophysicists and historians can travel back in time, but only historians can do anything about the past.” An interview with Carnegie Mellon University historian Ricky Law.
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Roundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editor of HNN.
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A Declaration of Independence from Hunger
William Lambers
Food is of the utmost importance to our domestic and foreign policies. Each one of us can do something about it, especially when it comes to helping charities fight hunger.
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America, One and Inseparable
Vaughn Davis Bornet
A reflection this 4th of July on the challenges the United States face and how history can guide us.
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Gerrymandering presented a ‘political question doctrine’ deemed outside Supreme Court jurisdiction
Lackland H. Bloom, Jr.
“After five decades of searching for a standard, Chief Justice Roberts was finally able to assemble a majority that concluded ‘enough is enough.’ There is no judicially manageable standard here. This is a non-justiciable political question.”
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12 History Podcasts You Should Be Listening To
Andrew Fletcher
No matter what your historical interests, there's a podcast for you.
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The 2020 Election and Presidential Age
Ronald L. Feinman
We could have the oldest President in American history at inauguration with Sanders, Biden or Warren, or the youngest President in American history with Buttigieg, Gabbard, Swalwell or Moulton.
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When the Future is the Past: A ‘Star Wars’ Summer at Tanglewood
Bruce Chadwick
This Sunday afternoon, the star fleet from the evil Empire, the storm troopers of Darth Vader and the nasty masters of the Death Star will once again battle the good guys at, of all places, the renown Tanglewood music center in Lenox, Massachusetts, as part of a three-concert film tribute to music composer John Williams.
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