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William H. Taft with his extended family in 1918.

Review: ‘The Tafts’ by George W. Liebmann

A new book celebrates an American political dynasty dedicated to public service. Why have they been forgotten?

What Even Is "Leadership"?

And why won't all the worst people stop talking about it?
Poster of Kate Mullaney holding an iron in a fist above her head, with the words "Don't iron while the strike is hot."

Reopened Museum Honors Women's Fight for Fairness

Kate Mullany's former home in Troy, New York honors one of the earliest women's labor unions that sought fair pay and safe working conditions.
15 women involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott; Rosa Parks's mugshot is the center.

The Women Behind the Montgomery Bus Boycott

We've heard about Rosa Parks and her crucial role, but Parks was just one of many women involved.
Anna Julia Cooper, portrait sitting in a chair, and Mary Church Terrell, side portrait.

‘Moving Unapologetically to the Forefront’: How an Archive Is Preserving the Black Feminist Movement

The Black Woman’s Organizing Archive highlights work in the 19th and 20th centuries that benefitted Black women and American society as a whole.
Woodrow Wilson and his wife, Edith, in 1916.

How Edith Wilson Kept Herself—and Her Husband—in the White House

A new book about the first lady reveals how she and the ailing President Woodrow Wilson silenced their critics.
A newly registered voter fills out a sample ballot for sheriff in Lowndes County. The ballot has the logo of the Black Panther Party formed by Stokely Carmichael of SNCC.

How Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers Changed the Civil Rights Movement

Much of what's happening in American race relations traces back to 1966, the year the Black Panthers were formed.
Wide view of past members in the House of Representatives.

What History Tells Us About Kevin McCarthy’s Chances

One hundred years ago, a strong leader brought House rebels to the table to elect a speaker. Can McCarthy do the same?
Lithograph of a town street with a printing press on the corner.

To Remember or to Forget

The story of philanthropists Catherine Williams Ferguson and Isabella Marshall Graham’s unlikely interracial collaboration.
Picture of John Silber in a tuxedo.

Saving John Silber

What we can learn from the work of the university administrator who went toe to toe with Howard Zinn.
Heather Booth playing guitar for Fannie Lou Hamer.

Why Fannie Lou Hamer Endures

She’s mostly remembered for one famous speech. Her actual legacy is far greater than that.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
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House Republicans’ Leadership Fight Signals a New Direction

Leadership battles tell us a lot about where a party is headed.
Martin Luther King Jr.

What Dignity Demands

A new book persuasively places Malcolm X and Martin Luther King at the center of each other’s most dramatic transformations.

Charismatic Models

There is, and always has been, a vanishingly thin line between charismatic democratic rulers and charismatic authoritarians.

Inside Every Foreigner

A review of Robert Dallek's book, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life."

Ella Taught Me: Shattering the Myth of the Leaderless Movement

It’s in vogue to call the new movement against police violence "leaderless." But as Ella Baker taught us, it's more correct to say that it has many leaders.
John Lewis

John Lewis's American Odyssey

The congressman is the strongest link in American politics between the early 1960s--the glory days of the civil rights movement--and the 1990s.

Shawn Fain Is Channeling the Best of the UAW’s Past

The ongoing UAW strike is reminiscent of early UAW leader Walter Reuther — before the union and Reuther himself downsized their ambitions.
A drawing of the Division Street uprising, depicting a barricade and Puerto Rican flags.

How Chicago's Division Street Rebellion Brought Latinos Together

In 1966, police shot a young Puerto Rican man. What followed created a blueprint for a new kind of solidarity.
John F. Kennedy waves to a cameraman a crowd of supporters in Los Angeles in 1960.
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To Bounce Back, Democrats Need a New John F. Kennedy Moment

JFK's presidential win in 1960 offers a guide for how Democrats can rebound in 2025.
George Lunn, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other politicans at the Democratic National Nominating Convention in 1924.
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The Socialist Mayor Who Came 100 Years Before Zohran Mamdani

George Lunn, socialist mayor of Schenectady, New York rose to power in 1911 by making a difference in people's lives.
Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in 1942.

General Groves Invented the Atomic Bomb, Not Oppenheimer

Gen. Leslie Groves promoted Oppenheimer as the atomic bomb's inventor to craft a propaganda narrative, obscuring the true creators and moral implications.
An illustration of the citizens’ committee in Fort Worth, Texas arresting a striker during the Great Southwest Strike of 1886.

Populism Was Born From a Rural-Urban Alliance

In 1880s Texas, farmers and factory workers discovered they had the same enemy: corporate capitalists.
Portrait of Pope Leo XIII by Franz von Lenbach, 1886.

The Heresy of Americanism

Jack Hanson on the new pope and his namesake.
Photograph of the author reviewing documents in the Percy collection with its curator Christopher Hunwick and owner Ralph Percy, the 12th Duke of Northumberland

Discovered: First Maps of the American Revolution 

Previously unknown, a map drawn by Lord Percy, the British commander at Lexington, sheds new light on the perilous retreat to Boston.

How Business Metrics Broke the University

The push to make students into customers incentivizes faculty to seek visibility through controversy rather than through traditional scholarly achievement.
Graydon Carter sitting next to stacks of ornate, empty chairs.

Vanity Fair’s Heyday

I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what?

George Washington Knew the Difference Between Running a Business and Running the Government

The first businessman president realized that working with Congress – not alone or against it – was the best way to create an efficient federal government.
A man in a suit with angel wings clipped to his back, tipping a hat with six different arms.

The Cult of the Entrepreneur

Why do Americans idealize people who found businesses?
Meeting of delegates to approve the Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, 1945.
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Origins of the UN: The US and USSR

The genesis of the United Nations came from the nations united as Allies against the Axis powers, but who really pushed the institution into being?

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