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When Big Oil Was "The Great Vampire Squid" Wrapped Around America

Robert Engler's award-winning 1955 investigation into the oil industry.
by Robert Engler via The New Republic on August 29, 1955
A group of workers in hard hats walk through the shallow water of one of the Panama Canal's locks.

‘The Canal Is Ours’

Trump’s threats to take control of the Panama Canal have precipitated a struggle over the country’s sovereignty.
by Miriam Pensack via New York Review of Books on June 28, 2025
Collage of Richard Nixon and vintage images of mushroom clouds.

The President’s Weapon

Why does the power to launch nuclear weapons rest with a single American?
by Tom Nichols via The Atlantic on June 26, 2025
Protestors confronting Army military police.

When the Military Comes to American Soil

Domestic deployments have generally been quite restrained. Can they still be?
by Joshua Braver via The Atlantic on June 17, 2025
Erased chalkboard in empty classroom

Cruel to Your School

Public education is meant to be a great equalizer. That’s why Trump wants to do undo it.
by Jennifer C. Berkshire via The Baffler on February 27, 2025
John Tower; Pete Hegseth.

In 1989, Senators Faced a Pete Hegseth Situation Very Differently

I covered the 1989 fight over George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense nominee. It feels awfully familiar.
by Fred Kaplan via Slate on January 23, 2025

You Had to Be There

Whose side is the war correspondent on?
by Zoë Hu via The Baffler on November 5, 2024
Photo of 5 skeletons controlling panels.

Notes from the Cold War Underground

The weapons infrastructure of the Cold War is now getting rented out on Airbnb or memorialized as patriotic kitsch.
by Emily Harnett via The Baffler on October 22, 2024
Uncle Sam gestureing "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil,"

How the US Military Ditched Merit

A military consumed by identity politics threatens the integrity of the republic.
by William Thibeau via Compact on October 9, 2024
Soy plantation fields.

Hating the Heartland

Do Americans in rural places really “marinate in a sense of loss and perpetual disappointment”?
by Paul Schwenessen via Law & Liberty on May 29, 2024
Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg attends a ceremony on April 27, 2023, in which a military base was renamed in his honor.

Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty — New Names for Army Bases Honor New Heroes and Lasting Values

The last relics of ‘lost cause’ ideology are being removed, as a federal panel renames US military bases that honored Confederate generals.
by Jeff South via The Conversation on June 7, 2023
Two female U.S. Army soldiers relax on an army vehicle in Iraq.

The Iraq War’s Legacies for Women in Combat

The armed forces continue to grapple with integrating women into an institution historically designed for men.
by Kara Dixon Vuic via Process: A Blog for American History on May 25, 2023
Outline of Henry Kissinger with his face made of skulls.

Blood on His Hands

Survivors of Kissinger's secret war in Cambodia reveal unreported mass killings.
by Nick Turse via The Intercept on May 24, 2023
Black soldiers in battle.

Double V: Military Racism

Today, the military is perhaps the largest integrated institution in the US. But how it came to be this way reveals a history of racism and resistance.
by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on February 22, 2023
The Iraq flag waving in the wind.

Confronting the Iraq War

Melvyn Leffler’s book on the roots of the Iraq invasion demonstrates the pitfalls of excessive trust in one’s sources, especially when they're top policymakers.
by Joseph Stieb via War on the Rocks on January 30, 2023
Bill Clinton presenting the V-chip, 1996.

Cold Controls

“National security” and the history of US export controls.
by Ella Coon via Phenomenal World on January 18, 2023
US Airforce nurses treating patients.

The Better Roe: The Case of Struck v. Secretary of Defense

When Susan Struck fought being discharged for pregnancy from the US Air Force, it brought the right to choose into a different light.
by Kara Dixon Vuic via Perspectives on History on August 10, 2022
When Tom Cruise starred in Top Gun in 1986, it wasn’t just a box office bonanza — it was a boon to the US military. Paramount Pictures

Hollywood and the Pentagon: A Love Story

For the Pentagon, films like "Top Gun: Maverick" are more than just a movie.
by Alissa Wilkinson via Vox on May 27, 2022
Memorial to cancer patients of the Radiation Effects Study, 1960-1972

Radiation, Race, and Recognition

Accountability is crucial as we remember the individuals and communities harmed by our institutions and call for retroactive justice.
by Divya Kumar via Nursing Clio on May 26, 2022
The XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters sign is displayed at Fort Bragg, N.C. on June 28, 2019.

Panel Unveils Nine Army Base Name Recommendations

The commission is charged with renaming bases whose names currently honor Confederate leaders.
by Davis Winkie, Leo Shane III via Army Times on May 24, 2022
Drawing of aerial view of vast room of cubicles.

The 20-Year Boondoggle

The Department of Homeland Security was supposed to rally nearly two dozen agencies together in a streamlined approach to protecting the country. So what the hell happened?
by Amanda Chicago Lewis via The Verge on April 21, 2022
People gathered around an electronic contraption with lightbulbs.

Ideas of the PMC

A review of three new books that in various ways track the rise of the "Professional Managerial Class."
by Michael J. Kramer via Society for U.S. Intellectual History on March 6, 2022
Artistic painting showing President Truman (depicted with glasses) in the foreground, and a sketch of President Biden in the background. The two figures are surrounded by America's colors and stars from the American flag.

What Joe Biden Can Learn From Harry Truman

His approval rating hit historic lows, his party was fractious, crises were everywhere. But Truman rescued his presidency, and his legacy.
by John Dickerson via The Atlantic on March 1, 2022
A picture of armed militias

What the Term “Gun Culture” Misses About White Supremacy

The rise of tactical gun culture among civilians reveals a new front in the U.S. battle against nativist authoritarianism.
by Chad Kautzer via Boston Review on December 17, 2021

Merchants of Death

From the Nye Committee to Joe Kent, the fight against war profiteering is a constant struggle.
by Hunter DeRensis via The American Conservative on November 8, 2021

9/11 was a Test. The Books of the Last Two Decades Show How America Failed.

The books of the last two decades show how overreacting to the attacks unmade America’s values.
by Carlos Lozada via Washington Post on September 3, 2021
Soldier walking through barracks

Army to Memorialize Black Soldier Lynched on Georgia Base 80 Years Ago

Pvt. Felix Hall’s killers were never brought to justice.
by Alexa Mills via Washington Post on August 1, 2021
Riot police clash with demonstrators in Medellín, Colombia, last week.
partner

The U.S. War on Drugs Helped Unleash the Violence in Colombia Today

Efforts to combat narcotics and communism militarized the country's security forces.
by Kyle Longley via Made By History on June 8, 2021
Cover of the book, "Restricted Data: the History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States" by Alex Wellerstein

Secrets, Sins, and Nuclear Insecurity

Only a certain kind of person, both foolish and resolute, would choose to study a subject so extensive, yet so restrictive, as the secrets of nuclear weapons.
by Joshua Roebke via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 19, 2021
Redacted declassified Top Secret memorandum written by Oliver North on Jack Terrel, terrorist suspect.

Iran-Contra and Domestic Counter-Intelligence Networks

Oliver North and his cronies in the Contra support operations put in motion a clandestine counter-intelligence apparatus to disrupt the flow of information.
by Edmund Berger via Reciprocal Contradiction on May 19, 2021
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