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History
Dive into columns, discoveries, and thoughtful and informative essays from the past and present, penned by Eli Lake, Niall Ferguson, and others.
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This Week in American History: The Unlikeliest Hero of the American Revolution
Self-taught, overweight, and missing two fingers, Henry Knox pulled off one of the most decisive feats of the American Revolution.
Jonathan Horn
This Week in American History: Roosevelt’s Big Stick
Before the Donroe Doctrine, there was the Roosevelt Corollary: If the United States didn’t want European powers intervening in Latin America, it would…
Jonathan Horn
The Wrong Lessons from Iran’s Past
Critics of U.S. action to support Iranian protesters have their history wrong, argues Eli Lake.
Eli Lake
This Week in American History: The Revolution’s First Hot Take
Nearly 250 years before social media, Thomas Paine published the first ‘viral’ pamphlet. It moved a nation and spurred a revolution.
Jonathan Horn
This Week in American History: When America Invaded Canada
A failed invasion of Quebec marked the Revolution’s first major setback—and defined the early limits of the American union.
Jonathan Horn
The First Christmas of the American Revolution
In the snow-filled holiday season of 1775, George Washington and his soldiers confronted an uncertain future.
Jonathan Horn
The Maccabees of the American Revolution
The ancient Hanukkah story of Jewish resistance to tyranny echoes in a later one: that of the Jewish patriots who fought for American independence.
Roya Hakakian
This Week in American History: A New Prophet of War
One hundred years after Billy Mitchell was court-martialed for calling the military unprepared for the next war, his warnings sound prescient again.
Jonathan Horn
No, You Are Not on Indigenous Land
Pieces of territory belong to institutions, not to racial groups.
Noah Smith
Americans to Celebrate: The Prophet of the Atomic Age
John von Neumann, the Hungarian immigrant who invented game theory and shaped America’s nuclear strategy, also believed the technologies he developed…
Jordan Ellenberg
Democrats Have a Patriotism Problem. Here’s How to Fix It.
On the 100th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy’s birth, Democrats should reflect on what made the late liberal icon so popular.
Richard D. Kahlenberg and Ruy Teixeira
Young Hitler
On a visit to Austria, the author finds an Adolf that looks uncannily like certain young American men today.
David Samuels
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