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Portrait of William Apess.

The Greatest Native American Intellectual You’ve Never Heard Of

The short life and long legacy of the 19th-century reformer William Apess.
by Phillip F. Gura via What It Means to Be American on April 17, 2015
A number of the most common words from historical state of the union addresses.

The Language of the State of the Union

An interactive chart reveals how the words presidents use reflect the twists and turns of American history.
by Mitch Fraas, Benjamin M. Schmidt via The Atlantic on January 18, 2015
The White House.

Sociology and the Presidency

In 1979, Carter's "malaise speech," shaped by sociological insights, sought national unity but clashed with Reagan's appeal to individualism.
by Matthew Braswell via The Fifth Floor on October 25, 2013
partner

Fierce Urgency of Now

Exploring the origins and impacts of the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," on that event's 50th anniversary.
via BackStory on August 23, 2013
Inaugural oath being sworn by President
partner

Four More Years: Presidential Inaugurations

An hour of stories about a few high-stakes inaugurations from the past.
via BackStory on January 11, 2013
Emma Goldman.

Emma Goldman’s “Anarchism Without Adjectives”

The writings of Emma Goldman entered the public domain. Here is an introduction to Goldman's life and her particular brand of anarchism.
by Kathy Ferguson via The Public Domain Review on January 12, 2011

Ronald Reagan Jokes about the USSR

Reagan's use of jokes to openly mock the Soviet system were part of his broader Cold War strategy.
via Voices & Visions on March 28, 1988
Lindsey R. Peterson.

'Home Builders': Free Labor Households and Settler Colonialism in Western Civil War Commemorations

On the gendered dimensions of trans-Mississippi Civil War memory, the idea of the single-family household, and the politics of expansion and settlement.
by Robert D. Bland, Lindsey R. Peterson via Muster on April 23, 2025
Patrick Henry giving a speech to a crowd of Virginians.

What Spurred the South to Join the American Revolution?

How a dispute with a Scottish lord over westward expansion, gunpowder, and the future of enslaved labor made the southern colonies’ embrace the radical cause.
by Andrew Lawler via Smithsonian on April 4, 2025
Two arrows pointing in different directions. One pointing at a red circle, the other pointing to the right.

The Culture War Doesn’t Distract Us From the Class War; It Directs Us To It

On William Safire and the "nattering nabobs of negativism."
by Corey Robin via Corey Robin Blog on March 4, 2025
Ronald Reagan standing before a podium and a row of American flags.

The Rise of Ronald Reagan, a Product of California

On the early career of the actor-cum-politician who changed America.
by Michael Hiltzik via Literary Hub on February 26, 2025
A rally for civil rights outside of the 1964 Republican National Convention.
partner

“A Party for the White Man”

The scene at the 1964 Republican National Convention, when Barry Goldwater was nominated and black Republicans’ worst fears about their party were confirmed.
by Joshua D. Farrington via HNN on February 25, 2025
Ken Burns speaking into microphone (left) and Donald Trump (right).

Ken Burns, Donald Trump, and the Lies that Bring Us Together

It may sound counterintuitive, but Ken Burns’ version of U.S. history actually has quite a bit in common with Trump’s version.
by Akim Reinhardt via 3 Quarks Daily on February 24, 2025
Lerone A. Martin

Christian Nationalists Don’t Want Us To Remember the Real MLK

The same Christian ideology that inspired J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to surveil MLK is alive and well in the Trump administration.
by Lerone A. Martin, Josiah R. Daniels via Sojourners on January 21, 2025
A drawing of a person staring at two different smartphones, with robotic arms holding their head in place.

What If the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction?

From the pianoforte to the smartphone, each wave of tech has sparked fears of brain rot. But the problem isn’t our ability to focus—it’s what we’re focusing on.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Yorker on January 20, 2025
Newborn babies sleeping in a maternity ward.

The Coming Assault on Birthright Citizenship

The Constitution is absolutely clear on this point, but will that matter?
by Amanda Frost via The Atlantic on January 7, 2025
Jimmy Carter in the 1970s visiting a town in Brazil that commemorates Confederate expats.

Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024

As an individual, Jimmy Carter stood as a rebuke to our venal and heartless political class. As a politician, his private virtues proved to be public vices.
by Tim Barker via Origins of Our Time on January 1, 2025
A cartoon depicting Charles Guiteau.

Echoes of Rage

Our new age of violence looks a lot like the Gilded Age.
by George Dillard via Looking Through The Past on December 18, 2024
A large crowd of women marching in New York City for the Women's Strike for Equality in 1970.

When the Personal Was Political

Second-wave feminists meant business—but they had a lot of fun at it, too.
by Jill Filipovic via Democracy Journal on December 17, 2024
Donald Trump and RFK Jr. shaking hands.

The Magic Thinking of Kennedy-ism

The hero worship of the family of American royalty has a dark side: a tendency toward conspiracism that fits with the MAGA movement.
by Rick Perlstein via The American Prospect on December 5, 2024
Protest encampment at University of California Berkeley.

The Free Speech Movement at Sixty and Today’s Unfree Universities

Can speech be free when billionaires buy influence on campus?
by Robert Cohen via Academe on December 4, 2024
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
Title page of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Searching for the Elusive Man Who Inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin

John Andrew Jackson spent a night at Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home as he fled north. Why do so few traces of his visit remain?
by Scott Wasserman Stern via The New Republic on October 24, 2024
Barack Obama holds up a baby on the campaign trail
partner

Charm Offensive: Why Politicians Reach for ‘Relatable’

For American politicians, the obsession with appealing to the everyman dates back to the raucous campaign of 1840.
via Retro Report on September 15, 2024
John Andrew Jackson riding a galloping horse and tipping his hat.
partner

How Do We Tell a Tale of People Who Sought to Disappear?

The life of John Andrew Jackson — and the vacillating richness and scarcity of the archive.
by Susanna Ashton via HNN on August 13, 2024
Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale at 1984 presidential debate.

When a Debate Flop Raised Concerns About Ronald Reagan's Fitness to Run for Re-Election

During the 1984 campaign, the 73-year-old president meandered his way through his face-off against Walter Mondale, prompting questions about his mental acuity.
by Eli Wizevich via Smithsonian on July 11, 2024
Judge Learned Hand.

Learned Hand’s Spirit of Liberty

Eighty years ago, Americans embraced a new definition of their faith: “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.”
by Lincoln Caplan via The New Yorker on July 4, 2024
Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1857.

The Essential Emerson

The latest biography of the great transcendentalist captures the paradoxes of his Yankee mind.
by Allen Mendenhall via Law & Liberty on June 21, 2024
Juneteenth celebrations.

Before Juneteenth

A firsthand account of freedom’s earliest celebrations.
by Susannah J. Ural, Ann Marsh Daly via The Atlantic on June 17, 2024
A family affair: Roosevelt was just 31 in 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed him assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy — a post previously held by his cousin Teddy.

The Making of FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s struggle against polio transformed him into the man who led the country through the Great Depression and World War II.
by Jonathan Darman via The Saturday Evening Post on April 5, 2024
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