Recently Published

Not All Roads Lead to Kashmir

by Andrew Howard

A recent tragedy on a historically contentious railway route shows that decisions about infrastructure development are made with symbolic and emotional considerations as well as pragmatic ones.

The January 6 Committee and the Paranoid Style

by Bruce W. Dearstyne

Episodes consistent with the "paranoid style" recur with sufficient frequency in American history to make them a landmark of the culture. But it's less well understood how each individual episode has faded, insight we could use today. 

How Poland's Solidarity Rejected the Temptation of Violence

by David Richards

The Polish Solidarity movement is an instructive study in how a coalition of workers, intellectuals and spiritual leaders maintained a commitment to nonviolence and dialogue in the face of repression. 

Despite the Cultural Differences, There's Common Ground Between Boomers and Zoomers

by Joseph Preston Baratta

Despite the differences in their cultural touchstones, Gen Z faces the yet-incomplete challenge of the Baby Boom generation: uniting the world in novel ways to solve global problems. 

Remembering David McCullough Off the Page, as a Champion of Preservation

by Richard Moe

Having known the late David McCullough through his work advocating historic preservation, the author says McCullough lived a maxim of John Adams he often quoted: while he achieved success, he was more driven to work to deserve it.

Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory?

by Wallace Hettle

An introduction to the core ideas of the Critical Race Theory movement and its founding thinkers suggests the right today isn't mad about ideas, but wants a new and scary-sounding term to justify their ongoing opposition to racial equality. 

On Putin's Vacant Moral Imagination

by Walter G. Moss

Russia's stances toward Ukraine and the west in general reflect its leaders' inability, perhaps nurtured by the Soviet system, to view world affairs through another's perspective. 

Why Should War Criminals Operate with Impunity?

by Lawrence Wittner

When major military powers like Russia, China and the United States withhold participation in the International Criminal Court, it allows war criminals to do as they please. Leading a more stable international order means joining fully with the ICC. 

The COVID Era is the Latest Episode of Medical Scapegoating of Asian Immigrants

by Catherine Ceniza Choy

From smallpox to COVID, Asian Americans have been blamed and attacked for supposedly causing disease, while their contributions to American health have been ignored. This medical scapegoating and the violence that often follow it demonstrate the need to teach more Asian American history. 

A Primary Source Shows the Connection Between 1920s Flappers and Social Media Youth Organizers Today

by Jason Ulysses Rose

While youth are often dismissed as frivolous, their media often reveal engagement, creativity, and wisdom that ther political elders would be wise to heed – in the 1920s as today. 

For 38 Years of American History, There Has Been No Vice President

by Cary Heinz

The frequency with which the vice presidency has been vacant shows the historical insignificance of the office. 

A Writer Reflects on Four Enlightening and Challenging Lunches with the Father of Black Liberation Theology

by J. Chester Johnson

The author shared Arkansas roots with the influential theologian and teacher, from opposite sides of the color line. Their exchanges showed the possibilities of reconciliation and the height of the barriers created by racism in Americans' shared history.

Climate Change Just Erased the Past in Kentucky. Where Will it Happen Next?

by Tina A. Irvine

The archives of the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County were inundated by flood waters on July 28—a devastating loss of one community's history and culture, and a warning to historians that our knowledge of the past is at risk from climate change. 

What Does the Perot Phenomenon Tell Us about Andrew Yang's Third Party Prospects?

by William Kertzman

Third parties can temporarily capture the public if they meet a moment of discontent with resources and a compelling personality; building for the long-term is something very different. 

Collegiality, Interdisciplinarity, and the Historian's Work

by Elizabeth Stice

Universities should encourage, and scholars should embrace, opportunities for collegial cooperation that encourage the lowering of the barriers to cross-disciplinary conversations. Both the researcher and the university will benefit. 

The Highland Park Horrors Won't Break the Gun Cult's Mythic Hold on America

by Thomas Lecaque and J.L. Tomlin

The myth of the armed citizen has little to do with the American revolution or the vision of the founders. It's all about the right's desire for a revolution to come. 

Weaponizing Bad-Faith History is a Conservative Tradition from Jim Crow to Alito

by Charles J. Holden

"Conservatives’ invocations of history often mixed wishful thinking about the past with bad faith in interpreting it. And it was always done with the present-minded purpose of maintaining elite white male rule, especially on matters of race."

Will Progressive Dems Realize Elections Have Consequences?

by Clyde W. Ford

Progressives need to begin “holding their noses” and voting based on a transactional rather than moral understanding of politics.

Don't Call them Conservatives

by Alan J. Singer

As we confront what is happening in this country, we need to stop calling the MAGA movement conservative.

Time to Amend the Constitution

by Don Fraser

Significant changes are needed to the Constitution in order to preserve any semblance of democratic government.