History

Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil

Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil Along the Roads That Built Modern Brazil

José Henrique Bortoluci's What Is Mine tells the story of his country’s laborers, like his father, who built its infrastructure, and in turn its fractious politics.

Dec 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jimin Kang

Benin Bronzes at the British Museum.

The Long History of the "Elsewhere Museum" The Long History of the "Elsewhere Museum"

Can the ethnographic museum be reinvented?

Dec 2, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Farah Abdessamad

A 150-Year Critique of the Electoral College

A 150-Year Critique of the Electoral College A 150-Year Critique of the Electoral College

As far back as the 1870s, The Nation opposed the existence of the Electoral College as "so grotesque as to be almost ludicrous.”

Nov 28, 2024 / Richard Kreitner

Shoppers browse the Trump Store at the Kansas GOP Convention in Overland Park.

What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas? What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas?

As recent events bear out, when Thomas Frank lamented, “We’ll have to drag the Democrats kicking and screaming to victory" in 2017, if anything he was understating the challenge.

Nov 27, 2024 / Column / Erica Etelson

Storming the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917.

The Impossible Story of Communism The Impossible Story of Communism

How do you tell the history of a global movement in all its hope and contradiction?

Nov 26, 2024 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Skeletons used in a museum in Amsterdam. They are posed in various positions for working; sawing wood, doing housework, carrying planks, office work, etc.

Why Americans Are Obsessed With Poor Posture Why Americans Are Obsessed With Poor Posture

A recent history of the 20th-century movement to fix slouching questions the moral and political dimensions of addressing bad backs over wider public health concerns.

Nov 20, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Zoe Adams

A detail of a painting by Thomas Nast.

Slavery in an Age of Emancipation Slavery in an Age of Emancipation

Robin Blackburn’s sweeping history of slavery and freedom in the 19th century.

Nov 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Manisha Sinha

The German reformer Thomas Muntzer (1491–1525) and his people during the German Peasants' War (1524–25). Colored engraving. 19th century.

Thomas Müntzer’s Misunderstood Revolution Thomas Müntzer’s Misunderstood Revolution

A recent biography of the German preacher and leader of the Peasants’s War examines what remains radical about the short-lived rebellion he led.

Nov 19, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Matt Broomfield

This man has done worse than accept free flights on Turkish Airlines.

The Real Scandal in New York City The Real Scandal in New York City

What’s worse than taking illegal foreign campaign contributions? Mayor Eric Adams’s failure to meet the city’s glaring needs.

Oct 29, 2024 / D.D. Guttenplan

The view from the Taipei 101 tower, 2020.

What No One Talks About When They Talk About Taiwan What No One Talks About When They Talk About Taiwan

In so many histories, writers so often ignore the social movements and underclass that helped define island nation's destiny.

Oct 24, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Brian Hioe

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