Bunk combs the web for new interpretations of American history, and highlights the fascinating connections between them.
Comment
What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?
The White House’s decision to delete a DOJ database of Jan. 6 cases puts those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.
Partner
Comment
Using Tariffs to Try to Annex Canada Backfired in the 1890s
Instead of compelling Canada to become an American state, the 1890 McKinley Tariff drove Canada into British hands.
Comment
Penny Dreadful
They’re horrid and useless. Why do pennies persist?
Comment
History Warns Us About Cabinet Members Like RFK Jr.
If RFK is confirmed, he is likely to fail for reasons similar to those for past political choices for the cabinet.
Exhibit
Nuclear Proliferation and the “Nth Country Experiment”
A mid-1960s “do-it-yourself” project produced “credible nuclear weapon” design from open sources.
Longread
The Wonderful Death of a State
For market radicals and neo-Confederates, secession is the path to a world that’s socially divided but economically integrated—separate but global.
Partner
Explainer
A Posthumous Romance of White Male Reunion
The history of deriving political meaning from Abraham Lincoln’s sexuality.