Memory

Reflections on the various legends surrounding the world's most famous ship.

How a re-creation of its most famous battle helped erase the meaning of the Civil War.

Does recognizing the importance of conservatism in the twentieth century make us see the arc of American history in a new way?

The Indians who greeted Columbus were believed to have died out. But a search for their descendants yielded surprising results.

Edward Rielly tells of the tragic massacre which underpinned the life of resistance fighter Geronimo.

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”

Neo-Nazis aren't the only ones collecting Nazi memorabilia.

Because of you, my Civil War lecture is always packed with students raised on your romantic, deeply misleading portrait of the conflict.

The story of Vinegar Hill, a historically African American neighborhood in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Why did Carter G. Woodson choose February, and what was his vision for the annual commemoration?

Jane Addams was controversial and independent-minded.

George Washington scales new heights.

All good storytellers tell a big story within a little story, and so do all good historians.

Did the 2010 Tea Party Movement really have anything in common with 1773? What did the history of populism suggest about the Tea Party's future?

Had Bob Dylan not written a song about it, the 1963 killing of a black servant by a white socialite’s cane might have been long forgotten.

A look back at the historian's work suggests that contemporary radicals may be all too invested in the myth of American consensus.

How the great influx of people from Africa and the Caribbean since 1965 is challenging what it means to be African-American.

The aviation pioneer was many things before—and after—her career as a pilot was cut short.

Making history more appealing to the public may come at a cost.

The forgotten history of Thanksgiving.

Pete Seeger, William F. Buckley, Jr., and public history.

Oral tradition, nationalism, and the invention of history.

A review of two books exploring the importance and legacy of the founding of the English colony at Jamestown.

To fully understand what has gone wrong since 9/11, it is necessary to rewind the tape to that moment just before.

A response to claims that the First Thanksgiving was not a "thanksgiving" as the Pilgrims understood it.

Culture warriors envision a future in which the educational power of universities will be harnessed to the propagation of a “biblical worldview” nationwide.

"A People’s History" is bad history, albeit gilded with virtuous intentions.

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”— Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg

An argument against looking at our past through the lens of today.

Was the 'first Thanksgiving' merely a pretext for the bloodshed, enslavement, and displacement that would follow in later decades?