Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 361–390 of 425 results. Go to first page
Lithograph of a Black man appealing to liberty and justice.

Dreams of a Revolution Deferred

How African-Americans in Early America celebrated the Declaration of Independence's ideals, even as basic freedoms were denied to them.
Cover of the book These Truths by Jill Lepore.

Only Dead Metaphors Can Be Resurrected

Historical narratives of the United States have never not been shaped by an anxiety about the end of it all. Are we a new Rome or a new Zion?
Toppled Howitzers Monument in Richmond, VA

American Oligarchy

A review of "How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America."

The Patriot Slave

The dangerous myth that blacks in bondage chose not to be free in revolutionary America.

The Corrupt Bargain

Eric Foner reviews two new books that make the case against the Electoral College.

How Historic Preservation Shaped the Early United States

A new book details how the young nation regarded its recent and more ancient pasts.
Painting of George Washington, altered to show him holding a stack of cash.

The Founding Generation Showed Their Patriotism With Their Money

History suggests the value of a broader understanding of patriotism, one that goes beyond saluting-the-flag loyalty and battlefield bravery.
Congress in session.
partner

Why Impeachment Was the Answer to 17th-Century Tyranny

Charles I was charged with high treason, waging war against his people and conspiring to deprive them of their rights and liberties.

‘A Doubtful Freedom’

Andrew Delbanco's new book positions the debate over fugitive slaves as a central factor in the nation's slide toward disunion.

Preaching a Conspiracy Theory

The 1619 Project offers bitterness, fragility, and intellectual corruption—not history.

The Framers’ Answers to Three Myths About Impeachment

Three misunderstood aspects of our governmental system, and the truth pulled directly from the Federalist Papers

Historians Write About a Different Jefferson Now: Four Books Show How Different

Four new books show how different, and maybe also why.
A drawing of a moose skeleton

America, Where the Dogs Don't Bark and the Birds Don't Sing

The Comte de Buffon's thirty-six volume Natural History claimed that America was a land of degeneracy. That enraged Thomas Jefferson.

Whistleblowing: A Primer

Are whistleblowers heroes or traitors? It depends who you ask.

The 40-Year War

William Barr’s long struggle against congressional oversight.

In Defense of the American Revolution

1776 began as a petty squabble among odious and powerful elites. It soon became the lodestar of emancipatory movements everywhere.

The Fourth of July Has Always Been Political

The question is which vision of America it’s being used to advance.

The Birthplace of American Slavery Debated Abolishing it After Nat Turner’s Bloody Revolt

Virginia engaged in “the most public, focused, and sustained discussion of slavery and emancipation that ever occurred."

A Parade of Imperial Presidencies

Trump is just the latest in a long line of executives to stiff-arm the Constitution and ignore congressional powers.

The Political Odyssey of Sean Wilentz

How one of America's original Bernie Bros became an outspoken critic of the left.

Where Does Truth Fit into Democracy?

In modern democracies, who gets to determine what counts as truth—an elite of experts or the people as a whole?
Aerial view of a fortress in Puerto Rico.

Telling the History of the U.S. Through Its Territories

“How to Hide an Empire,” explores America far beyond the borders of the Lower 48.
Drawing of "Uncle Sam," a common national personification of the U.S., crouched over a church. He appears to be listening to what is going on inside.

Under God

Our secular government is all tangled up with God. How did we get here?

Patriot Propaganda

A new book argues that race and racism fueled the fires of the American Revolution.

You Probably Don't Know This About U.S. Elections

From voting rights to the electoral college, a brief explainer on three widespread misconceptions about voting.

History for a Post-Fact America

A review of Jill Lepore's new book, which she has called the most ambitious single-volume American history written in generations.
An integrated classroom in Anacostia High School, Washington, D.C. in 1957.

Have We Lost Faith in Public Education?

Economic rationales for schooling are eroding democracy.

Jefferson and Hemings: How Negotiation Under Slavery Was Possible

In navigating lives of privation and brutality, enslaved people haggled, often daily, for liberties small and large.

Jefferson’s Monticello Finally Gives Sally Hemings Her Place in Presidential History

New exhibits put slavery at the center of Monticello's story, and make it clear that Jefferson was the father of Hemings' children.

Bearing Arms vs. Hunting Bears

The persistence of a mythic second amendment in contemporary Constitutional culture.

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person