Excerpts

The history of labor strikes shows that, in order to achieve lasting success, workers need to capture political power.

Why a radical group of environmentalists turned to direct action in defense of wild nature.

Two historians shed light on the atrocities of Native American enslavement and genocide.

A review of four books that all deal with the long-lasting contradictions between the mythology and reality of farming.

During and after slavery, some whites considered legal marriage too sacred an institution to be offered to black Americans.

Baldwin's often overlooked final years of activism during the 1980's.

Du Bois's "Black Reconstruction in America" showed that the black freedom struggle has always been one for radical democracy.

The political scientist argues that the desire of identity groups for recognition is a key threat to liberalism.

In her groundbreaking new book, Monica Muñoz Martinez uncovers the legacy of a brutal past.

The elusive meaning of privacy in America.

Histories of the Jews reveal a lot about the times in which they were written.

How did the “moral economy”—a concept that once encompassed a radical critique of capitalism—become the province of billionaires?

(When It’s Already Summarized in This Article?)

A review of Zephyr Teachout's "Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United."

Why so many commentators share an overly grim view of America’s fate.

A 1974 review of Robert Caro's "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York."

Why assessing the state of the world is harder than it sounds.

The history of eugenics in the Progressive Age.

How Hollywood tried to fight fascism and ended up blacklisting suspected Communists.

“Very fine people”—fathers and husbands, as well as mothers and daughters—have always been central to the work of white supremacy.

Five historians weigh in on a new book about the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

"Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” by Mark Bray, is part history, part how-to.

Wildfires in the American West are becoming ever more prevalent and destructive. How did we get to this point?

The trials of Jimmy Carter.

The food pages of newspapers were probably some of the first feminist writing many women read.

The Court got it right—but it's not a conclusion we should be entirely comfortable with.

A review of Stephen Brumwell's most recent book.

Neoliberalism set out not to demolish the state, but to create an international order strong enough to override democracy in the service of private property.

A new book asks: Can the surplus of capitalist exploitation be used to aid those on whose backs this surplus is generated?

Before the Civil War, many Southern leaders hoped to expand slavery even beyond the nation's borders.

Review of The Framers' Coup: The Making of the United States Constitution, by Michael J. Klarman.

The story of the Armed Services Editions.

A review of a handful of new books that embody the new liberal originalism.

In her newest book, Barbara Ehrenreich attacks the "epidemic" of wellness.

Why do people hike?

Before you grab the 'raw,' some thoughts on how food was before safety and labeling regs were passed.

How John Marshall, Joseph Story, and Roger Taney strengthened the institution of slavery and embedded in the law a systemic hostility to fundamental freedom and basic justice.

A review on the many publications about Henry David Thoreau's life for the bicentennial anniversary of his birthday.

But can locally empowered communities really fix our schools' problems?

The violent rise of white supremacy after the Vietnam War.

Zora Neale Hurston’s long-lost oral history with one of the last survivors of the Atlantic slave trade.

A new book explores the nation’s now-faded preoccupation with the 'epidemic' of hunched bodies.

Researchers suggest effects of the Colonial Era can be detected in rocks or even air.

In her new book, ‘True Sex,’ historian Emily Skidmore looks at their lives and how society has treated them.

A review of Deirdre Cooper Owens' "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology."

The document we celebrate today wasn't just the work of Thomas Jefferson's individual genius. Everyone was doing it.

Remembering a time when a toxic cocktail of threats, fear, and misunderstanding nearly led us down the path to Armageddon.

240 years after the American Revolution, debates over how to interpret the conflict and its leaders continue.

A new biography offers a fair-minded portrait of a vain moralist and political visionary whose certitude exceeded his judgment.

In a new book, top historians discuss the musical’s educational value, historical accuracy and racial revisionism.