polarization

Can We Solve the Civics Education Crisis?

by Glenn C. Altschuler and David Wippman

Universal schooling created the potential for a unifying civic curriculum that, paradoxically, has been the subject of perpetual disagreement regarding its contents. A recent bipartisan roadmap for civics education that makes those disagreements central to the subject matter may be the only way to move forward. 

James Kloppenberg Reviews New Books on Democracy and Polarization

The eminent political historian reviews books by Timothy Shenk, Michael Kazin, Julian Zelizer, Gary Gerstle, Jefferson Cowie and Sam Rosenfeld that place the current concern with polarization in decades- and centuries-long perspective. 

Want to Reverse Polarization and Democratic Decline? Support Unionization

by Jacob M. Grumbach

The need for a renewed labor movement is a key component of democratic renewal that is too often ignored by Democratic strategists, says a political scientist who studies antidemocratic politics. 

Review: Two Books on the Recent History of Polarization

by Paul Starr

Historian Michael Kazin and journalist Dana Milbank approach the nation's dire politics from the perspective of the two respective parties, Kazin examining the long conflicts within the Democratic party to create a broad and stable populist coalition, and Milbank examining the GOP's increasingly nihilistic efforts to break it up.

Seeing Through America's "Crisis Industrial Complex"

by Nikhil Pal Singh

While the elite media class indulges in lurid fantasies of an armed breakup of the nation, those who live precarious or impoverished lives find themselves already enmeshed in a civil war; the real red/blue conflict is about who will control the infrastructure of repression built up over the last half century.

Historians Disagree with Alito: Roe Didn't Create Polarization

by Adam Serwer

The idea that the 1973 Roe decision created polarized politics around the Supreme Court ignores the decades-long backlash to Brown v. Board of Education and other decisions of the Warren Court and the contested politics of abortion before Roe. 

Why Can't Mike DeWine Succeed as a Reasonable Republican?

The Ohio governor increasingly seems to fit a political mold of pragmatic conservatism that lacks a constituency in a polarized political environment driven by a radicalized Republican Party.

Imagining Another Civil War is a Lost Cause (But That's Not Stopping People)

by Richard Kreitner

Journalist Stephen Marche presents scenarios under which the historical tensions among groups of Americans could openly rupture, but reviewer Richard Kreitner thinks some are unlikely, and don't grapple with the way that American institutions are implicated in the crisis of democracy.

Smithsonian's John Grinspan on Histories of Americans Fighting For Democracy

Do we need to tolerate a decline in civility in order to ensure the kind of democratic participation that will keep Americans invested in working within our institiutions? 

Colin Powell's Funeral: A Missed Opportunity for Unity

by Sarah J. Purcell

Since George Washington's death in 1799, Americans have used the funerals of prominent leaders as occasions to temporarily escape growing factional and partisan division. 

A House Still Divided (Part 2)

by Walter G. Moss

There are signs that Americans can begin to resolve the fierce struggle underway about what kind of nation we will be. 

A House Still Divided (Part 1)

by Walter G. Moss

The core of our polarization is a disagreement about what kind of country we will be – one dominated by Christian white men or one, in Frederick Douglass's words, "of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and of all creeds, and to men of no creeds." 

There’s a Very Good Reason ‘Washington Slept Here’

by Nathaniel Philbrick

"Today the phrase 'Washington slept here' is a historical joke, but during the two years of intermittent travel at the beginning of his presidency, all those nights spent in taverns and homes across the country were essential to establishing an enduring Union."

‘Lean Into It. Lean Into the Culture War': Are Liberals Really Stoking Conflict?

by Thomas B. Edsall

Thomas Edsall argues that political science research on polarization undercuts recent liberal and centrist arguments that the left is responsible for the culture wars by pushing extreme identity politics. 

Ron Brownstein: What Manchin and Sinema Can Learn from Lincoln Republicans on Voting Rights

It's increasingly clear that the choice isn't between partisan and bipartisan legislation to protect voting rights, but between partisan legislation and none. But the 14th and 15th Amendments were themselves partisan. 

Is There a Way to Dial Down the Political Hatred?

by Molly Worthen

Are fanatical political opinions a refiguring of the need for spiritual meaning in a secular society? What are the prospects for dialogue and coexistence? 

Historians' Perspective on Media Bias: Where it Came from, and What Can be Done?

by Walter G. Moss

Historical perspective shows that media bias is nothing new, but the stakes for democracy are high today. Can historians teach and practice better ways of reading and debating to fight polarization and misinformation?

Our Divisions Are Worse Than You Think

by Jonathan Zimmerman

American cable news has reverted to the partisan heyday of the 19th century press, making it difficult to argue issues from a shared basis in facts. The author suggests reading more and watching less. 

"Freedom of the Press in Small-Town America"

by Robert W. Frizzell

A review of HNN contributor Steven Hochstadt's new book of collected op-ed essays written between 2009 and 2018. The writings of a liberal Long Island Jew in a small-town midwestern newspaper offer a lens onto the question of the cultural divide in contemporary America. 

When Did America Stop Being Great?

by Nick Bryant

Nick Bryant began observing America as a 16 year old at the patriotic spectacle of the 1984 Olympics. His book traces the path from "Morning in America" to "American Carnage," fixing some blame but also seeking a way through.