collective memory

In the past 3 months, two people in the US have taken or risked taking their own lives in an attempt to change US policies on Palestine and call for a cease-fire.

Loft life above the Fulton Fish Market and the day that everything changed.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected us in millions of ways. But it evades the meanings we want it to bear.

Bruce Kuklick traces the meaning of the term “fascist” from its origins to the present day and how it has, over the years, gradually lost its coherence.

As a versatile but complex hero, King led a life open to interpretation by politicians and activists of all types who fiercely debated his legacy.

How political misappropriations of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy fuel right-wing movements.

The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.

James Longstreet became an apostate for supporting black civil rights during Reconstruction.

Universal Camouflage Pattern became a symbol of an unpopular war. Today, it’s being reappraised by those too young to remember the invasion of Iraq.

A historian attends the 250th anniversary of the Tea Party, and reflects on the ways Americans remember one of the Revolution's main set pieces.

Nazis play a key role as villain in American collective consciousness—but without broad understanding of antisemitism.

For generations, depictions of Native Americans have reduced them to either aggressors or victims. But at many public history sites, that is starting to change.

As our faith in the future plummets and the present blends with the past, we feel certain that we’ve reached the point where history has fallen apart.

Reenactments of the frontier west, complete with cowboy shootouts on main streets, reproduce a narrative of history that is widely accepted by millions.

In 1901, a series of articles took a dim view of the era, and of the idea that all Americans ought to participate in the democratic process.

For decades, Americans have argued over the icon’s legacy. But his archives show that he had his own plans.

A new biography of the Velvet Underground founder, Lou Reed, considers the stark duality of the man and his music.

The famous disaster razed a metropolis and spread a pack of colorful lies. To sift through the ashes today is to encounter some uncomfortable truths.

Lord, implored President Biden, let us "turn the page" on the War on Terror. Just not yet.

Some personal reflections on history, memory, and the survival of democracies.