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Hannah Ardent

Anatomist of Evil

Lyndsey Stonebridge’s book hurls us deeper into Hannah Arendt’s thinking, showing us that there was muddle rather than method at the heart of it.
by Stuart Jeffries via Literary Review on February 1, 2024
Graphic of the word "negrophile" spelled out three times

How the Right Retired “Negrophile”—and Substituted “Woke”

Favorite slur too racist? Replace it.
by Anthony Conwright via Mother Jones on August 29, 2023
Spectrum of color from red to blue.

A Little Spectrum-y

What the autism diagnosis says about you.
by Emer Lucey via The Drift on January 20, 2022
Johnny Cash performing with band

The Radicalism of Johnny Cash

The best-selling musical artist in the world in 1969, Johnny Cash sang of (and for) the "forgotten Americans": the imprisoned men of all races.
by Livia Gershon, Daniel Geary via JSTOR Daily on December 24, 2021
The Pirates’ Ruse, early 19th century engraving, depicting people standing on deck in view of another ship pretend everything is normal, while armed pirates hide out of view of a nearby American vessel.

The Poetics of History from Below

All good storytellers tell a big story within a little story, and so do all good historians.
by Marcus Rediker via Perspectives on History on September 1, 2010

The Compassionate Historian

History’s academic study is now deeply politicized, with partisan views shaping beliefs and debates over even basic historical facts.
by Daniel Sonnenfeld via National Affairs on June 26, 2025
The letters Q and A having a conversation.

The History of Advice Columns Is a History of Eavesdropping and Judging

How an Ovid-quoting London broadsheet from the late seventeenth century spawned “Dear Abby,” Dan Savage, and Reddit’s Am I the Asshole.
by Merve Emre via The New Yorker on June 16, 2025
A caricature of Murray Kempton.

The Rebellions of Murray Kempton

One of his generation’s most prolific journalists, Kempton never turned a blind eye to the inequalities all around him.
by Vivian Gornick via The Nation on April 8, 2025
Art piece of W.E.B. DuBois and people with outstretched arms.

Solidarity and Gaza

Black people see what is happening to Palestinians, and many feel the tug of the familiar in their heart.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on October 29, 2024
A photograph of the massive AIDS memorial quilt with the Washington Monument in the background.

“I Am the Face of AIDS”

Ryan White helped challenge existing understandings of the AIDS epidemic. But his story also reinforced arbitrary divisions between the guilty and the innocent.
by Paul M. Renfro via Public Books on October 22, 2024
Paper and an ink pen.

Call Me Comrade: Cold War Pen-Pals

The correspondence of Soviet and American women during the Cold War.
by Miriam Dobson via London Review of Books on October 17, 2024
Jimmy Carter speaking into a microphone in front of a crowd.

Unwavering

You can argue over whether Jimmy Carter was America’s greatest president, but he was undoubtedly one of the greatest Americans to ever become president.
by Jim Barger Jr. via The Bitter Southerner on October 1, 2024
Vietnamese refugees preparing to evacuate a village during an American air raid.

The End of a Village

Jonathan Schell’s account of the US military’s destruction of the village of Ben Suc in Vietnam laid bare the problem with many American interventions.
by Wallace Shawn via New York Review of Books on September 12, 2024
Foggy hills in Appalachia.

Love in the Time of Hillbilly Elegy: On JD Vance’s Appalachian Grift

Justin B. Wymer knows a snake when he sees one.
by Justin B. Wymer via Literary Hub on August 27, 2024
James Baldwin

The Brilliance in James Baldwin’s Letters

The famous author, who would have been 100 years old today, was best known for his novels and essays. But correspondence was where his light shone brightest.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on August 2, 2024
Barbara Ransby speaks to protesters at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, March 20, 1987.

My Time Organizing on Campus Against Apartheid in South Africa

Black internationalism broadened our politics of solidarity.
by Barbara Ransby via Hammer & Hope on July 23, 2024
Demonstrators holding signs at George Floyd protest in NYC, 2020.

Americans Used to Unite Over Tragic Events − and Now Are Divided By Them

Tragedy seldom unifies Americans today.
by Thomas D. Beamish via The Conversation on June 18, 2024
A drawing of a television screen between the fingers of someone framing an image of barbed wire.

The Problem With TV's New Holocaust Obsession

From 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' to 'We Were the Lucky Ones,' a new wave of Holocaust dramas feel surprisingly shallow.
by Judy Berman via TIME on May 8, 2024
Marlon Brando on the set of 'One-Eyed Jacks,' 1961.

Brando Unmatched

The legendary actor left a mark in both film history and an industry fraught with self-regard.
by Giancarlo Sopo via The Dispatch on April 27, 2024
Content of Frank B's suitcase. A luggage tag, a black and white photograph of a young man in military uniform, a notebook with Frank's name written, a guide to Brooklyn, a copy of the Gospel of John, and an address book.

Tales From an Attic

Suitcases once belonging to residents of a New York State mental hospital tell the stories of long-forgotten lives.
by Sierra Bellows via The American Scholar on March 4, 2024
A Taliban soldier standing on the ruins of the Bala Hissar fortress, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2021.

The Price of American ‘Safety’

New books on the War in Afghanistan endeavor to tell the realities of occupation and the "war on terror."
by Suzy Hansen via New York Review of Books on February 20, 2024
A photograph of Billie Holiday singing.

The Perfectionist Tradition

The African American perfectionists offered “faith” instead of “hope”—emphasizing the struggle to realize a vision of justice.
by William P. Jones via Dissent on February 6, 2024
Street art graffiti on the Israeli separation West Bank wall in Bethlehem features a portrait of George Floyd, symbolizing the links between Black American and Palestinian activists.

The Long, Complicated History of Black Solidarity With Palestinians and Jews

How Black support for Zionism morphed into support for Palestine.
by Sam Klug, Fabiola Cineas via Vox on October 17, 2023
Crowd holding shirts with names of Triangle Fire victims

A Memorial Restores Humanity To The 146 Ghosts of the Triangle Fire

Over a century after one of New York City’s deadliest industrial accidents, the names of its victims, most of them women, are being enshrined in steel.
by David Von Drehle via Washington Post on October 9, 2023
Austin West, a Choctaw student, visits Kindred Spirits, a monument to the Choctaw in County Cork.

The Unlikely, Enduring Friendship Between Ireland and the Choctaw Nation

One act of generosity during the Great Famine forged a bond that transcends generations.
by Richard Grant via Smithsonian on September 7, 2023
D-Day landing.

On the Enduring Power and Relevance of America’s Most Famous WWII Correspondent

by David Chrisinger via Literary Hub on May 30, 2023
Young girl triplets wearing identical clothes sitting on a bed.

Posed Riddles

Seeing through empathy with Diane Arbus.
by Max Norman via The Drift on February 28, 2023
President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the Group of 20 summit.
partner

Diplomacy Defused Cold War Crises. It Can Help Again Today.

The type of quiet, personal, informed diplomacy advocated by George Kennan can reduce tensions with China and Russia.
by Frank Costigliola via Made By History on February 10, 2023
Demonstrators in front of the U.S. capital, supporting Ukraine.

Small Nations, Big Feelings

In the 1930s, Americans fell in love with Czechoslovakia and Spain; today, it’s Ukraine. What happens when one finds a “second mother country”?
by Madelyn Lugli via Public Books on October 27, 2022
A toddler at a small table eat a plate of food with a large glass of milk.

Empathy in the Archive: Care and Disdain for Wet Nursing Mothers

The complex story of wet nurses and their children in the time before the advent of baby formula.
by Anna K. Danziger Halperin via Nursing Clio on October 11, 2022
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