Current Events that Relate to History
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ExplainerWhat Is the Alien Enemies Act?
Trump is relying on a 1798 law with a bad history.Hogeland's Bad History -
Book ReviewThe “Lady Preacher” Who Became World-Famous—and Then Vanished
Aimee Semple McPherson took to the radio to spread the Gospel, but her mysterious disappearance cast a shadow on her reputation.The New Yorker -
CommentThe Danger of Adjusting State Borders
A movement for some Illinois counties to join Indiana threatens to resurrect an ominous practice from the 19th century.Made By History -
NewsAmid Anti-DEI Push, National Park Service Rewrites History of Underground Railroad
Since Trump took office, the park service — charged with preserving American history — has changed how it describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow.Washington Post -
Book ReviewLegacies of Japanese American Incarceration
Brandon Shimoda’s book about the memorialization of Japanese internment camps also speaks to the brutal system of migrant detention that continues to this day.New York Review of Books -
RetrievalLowell’s Forgotten House Mothers
As vital to the success of industrial New England as the mill girls who toiled in the factories were the women who oversaw their lodging.JSTOR Daily -
exhibitThe Way We Tax
From municipal government to international trade, these writings examine the political rhetoric, economic theories, and changing policies of taxation in the U.S.
From the HNN Archive
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What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
“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. -
Indifferent to the Fate of Freedom Elsewhere
Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters. -
Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress
How a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. -
When Good Housekeeping Meant Getting Vaccinated Against Polio
The pages of 1950s lifestyle magazines offer a glimpse of a time when childhood vaccines were anything but controversial. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
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. -
Who Built the Panama Canal?
Finding testimony from the Afro-Caribbean workers who changed the Americas forever.