Henry L. Stimson

An interview with Jesse Tarbert about the history of the American state, “big government,” and the legacy of government reform efforts.

After Charlottesville, the historian Joan Wallach Scott wanted to find out how societies face up to their past—and why some fail.

Revisiting John Hersey's groundbreaking "Hiroshima."

As we approach the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, we're going to see a lot of journalistic takes on them — many of them totally wrong.

Just like in wartime, compulsion is a must.

The Cold War says more about how U.S. elites imagined their “freedom” than it does about enabling other people to be free.

A dark chapter in the history of religious persecution.

What to know before equating "fire and fury" to the "rain of ruin."

An interactive depiction of more than a century's worth of foreign travel by U.S. presidents and secretaries of state.

Building the Panama Canal.

Jill Lepore on disease outbreaks of pandemic proportions, media scares, and the parrot-fever panic of 1930.

Truman’s radio address on August 9, 1945 frames Hiroshima as a “military base” to justify its bombing.