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Black and white photograph of a man. The main has his hair styled to point upwards, and a tattoo of the word Mississippi on his back.

Where Does the South Begin?

A new history cuts against stereotypes, to show a region constantly changing—and whose future is up for grabs.
by Scott Wasserman Stern via The New Republic on June 26, 2023
Illustration of a man with a shovel working a farm; the background shows scenes of family and communal life

Deep States

The old Midwest was a place animated by the belief that a self-governing republic is the best regime for man.
by Wilfred M. McClay via Claremont Review of Books on May 31, 2023
Map of Iowa and a drawing of a factory processing corn.

Searching for the Spirit of the Midwest

Was the nineteenth-century Midwest “the most advanced democratic society that the world had seen”?
by Phil Christman via The New Republic on February 22, 2023
Unionists in East Tennessee Swear Loyalty to the Union Flag in 1862.

Remembering Southern Unionists

Confederate monuments helped to erase the history of those white and black southerners who remained loyal and were willing to give their lives to save the United States.
by Kevin M. Levin via Civil War Memory on December 28, 2022
A WPA poster styled man in a field with a Mac laptop and earbud instead of farm implements.

The New National American Elite

America is now ruled by a single elite class rather than by local patrician smart sets competing with each other for money and power.
by Michael Lind via Tablet on January 20, 2021
Tent for a Sons of Confederate Veterans camp, with flags and memorabilia.

Ohio Has Always Had Confederate Apologists

In June, Ohio legislators refused to ban confederate memorabilia from county fairs. The state has long had a complicated relationship with the Confederacy.
by Eric Michael Rhodes via Belt Magazine on July 6, 2020

Synecdoche, Illinois

A history of how Peoria became a stand-in for the country surrounding it.
by Bridey Heing via Lapham’s Quarterly on July 22, 2019
A map of the United States divided into regions.

A Balkanized Federation

Without a shared civic narrative – the pursuit of liberal democratic self-government – the rival regional cultures of the United States agree on very little.
via Nationhood Lab
Image of where the rust belt is located on a US map

Economic Mobility, Not Manufacturing Decline, Is the Real Rust Belt Story

A look at popular interpretations and actual labor fluctuations in the Rust Belt over time.
by Norbert Michel, Jerome Famularo via Cato Institute on June 12, 2025
Avocados

Why Are We So Obsessed With Avocados?

Why are avocados everywhere?
by Sarah Allaback, Monique F. Parsons via Literary Hub on May 21, 2025
John C. Calhoun

The Prelude to the Civil War

“Only two states wanted a civil war—Massachusetts and South Carolina.”
by Hunter DeRensis via The American Conservative on May 5, 2025
An eagle grabbing the earth, focused on Latin America, in its talons.

What America Means to Latin Americans

In a new book, the Pulitzer Prize winner Greg Grandin tells the history of the hemisphere from south of the border.
by Geraldo Cadava via The New Yorker on April 23, 2025
Map of Boston in 1776.

Terrains of Independence

Why was Boston and Massachusetts the site of so much early Revolutionary activity?
by Garrett Dash Nelson, Katy Lasdow via Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center on April 2, 2025
Ken Martin and Ben Wikler at a DNC forum.

Ken Martin, Ben Wikler, and the DNC Chair Race’s Midwestern Moment

The region has unique political traditions tailor-made for the momentum gathering behind economic populism in the Democratic Party.
by Cory Haala via Clio and the Contemporary on January 31, 2025
Painting of horsemen in the Caucus mountains.

The Reckless Creation of Whiteness

How an erroneous 18th-century story about the “Caucasian race” led to a centuries of prejudice and misapprehension.
by Erin L. Thompson via The Nation on January 29, 2025
Newspapers showcasing the victory of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump
partner

Close Elections Signal a New Gilded Age

Donald Trump’s 2024 win, echoing the Gilded Age, highlights America’s volatile, close elections, partisan divides, and structural barriers shaping politics.
by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on December 13, 2024
1908 forest fire in New Hampshire.
partner

The Burned-Over District

The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come.
by Stephen Pyne via HNN on December 10, 2024
Collage of Edna Ferber, a still from the film "Giant," and symbols of Texas.

The Carpetbagger Who Saw Texas’s Future

The notion of political realignment in the Lone Star State is older than you think. It goes back to Giant, an acidic novel by Edna Ferber.
by Chris Vognar via The Atlantic on December 9, 2024
Church with graveyard.

Divided Providence

Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War.
by Robert Wilson via The American Scholar on December 2, 2024
Debris from hurricane Helene.
partner

America Forgot a Crucial Lesson From Hurricanes of the Past

History reveals that even weakening storms do catastrophic damage when they hit mountainous regions.
by Justin McBrien via Made By History on October 9, 2024
Map of New England and Nova Scotia

The Case of New Ireland—Not Meant to Be

During the American Revolution, some individuals took advantage of the upheaval to advocate for a new colony: New Ireland.
by Richard J. Werther via Journal of the American Revolution on September 17, 2024
Eugene V. Debs delivers an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918.

The Unsung History of Heartland Socialism

The spirit of socialism has coursed through the American Midwest ever since the movement emerged, continuing to animate the political landscape today.
by Miles Kampf-Lassin via In These Times on August 30, 2024
partner

Electing the President, 1840-2020

Most election maps emphasize the candidates and parties who won the Electoral College. This project shifts the focus to voters, revealing a more nuanced story.
by Robert K. Nelson, Riley D. Champine, Nathaniel Ayers, Chad Devers via American Panorama on August 1, 2024
Election Day in Philadelphia, John Lewis Krimmel.

A More Imperfect Union: How Differing National Visions Divided the North and the South

On the fragile facade of republicanism in 19th century America.
by Alan Taylor via Literary Hub on May 21, 2024
Map of the Chesapeake Bay.

Our Local Monster

Whose knowledge matters in a changing region?
by Kathryn Carpenter via Contingent on May 19, 2024
Volunteers at Big Creek Missions in Leslie County, Kentucky

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

I’ve been going back to eastern Kentucky for over a decade. Since 2016, something there has changed.
by Bradley Devlin via The American Conservative on April 22, 2024
"Soulsville" mural in Memphis, Tennessee.

Capitalism and (Under)Development in the American South

In the American South, an oligarchy of planters enriched itself through slavery. Pervasive underdevelopment is their legacy.
by Keri Leigh Merritt via Aeon on April 2, 2024
Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
partner

The Border Presidents and Civil Rights

Three US presidents from the South’s borders—Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson—worked against Southern politicians to support civil and voting rights.
by David Goldfield, Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on March 31, 2024
Old car holding up a mining chute on the over of the book “The Bootleg Coal Rebellion”

Rock-Fuel and Warlike People: On Mitch Troutman’s “The Bootleg Coal Rebellion”

Native son Jonah Walters finds something entirely too innocent about the tales told about the anthracite industry’s origins.
by Jonah Walters via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 21, 2024
The subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns.
by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton via Smithsonian on January 17, 2024
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