History

Trump on a screen during the January 6 hearings

The Failures of the January 6 Report The Failures of the January 6 Report

Historian Jill Lepore’s effective critique in The New Yorker is marred by a lazy counternarrative.

Jan 13, 2023 / Jeet Heer

A black and white photo of a young Hannah Arendt lounging.

Hannah Arendt Was Really a Prophet Against Conformity Hannah Arendt Was Really a Prophet Against Conformity

To the question of how totalitarian methods could ever draw the compliance of free citizens, she replied: through the enchantment of success.

Jan 9, 2023 / Column / David Bromwich

Will Alexander’s Epics of the Surreal

Will Alexander’s Epics of the Surreal Will Alexander’s Epics of the Surreal

As one critic put it, his poetry conjured up a world built by “an ecstatic surrealist on imaginal hyperdrive.” 

Jan 5, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Aditya Bahl

Has the United States Ever Been a Democracy?

Has the United States Ever Been a Democracy? Has the United States Ever Been a Democracy?

Blending history, political theory, and commentary on current events, Jedediah Purdy's new book examines how that the United States continues to fail to qualify as a system defined...

Jan 3, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sophia Rosenfeld

Apocalypse No! Pseudo-Archaeology, Ancient Tech-Lords, and Ordinary People.

Apocalypse No! Pseudo-Archaeology, Ancient Tech-Lords, and Ordinary People. Apocalypse No! Pseudo-Archaeology, Ancient Tech-Lords, and Ordinary People.

Why the Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse is worth taking seriously. Hint: It’s not the science.

Dec 22, 2022 / David Wengrow

What the West Gets Wrong About the Rwandan Genocide

What the West Gets Wrong About the Rwandan Genocide What the West Gets Wrong About the Rwandan Genocide

The mass killings haunt US foreign policy and distort how we understand ethnic violence.

Dec 15, 2022 / Feature / Jina Moore

America Online: A Cautionary Tale

America Online: A Cautionary Tale America Online: A Cautionary Tale

On the rise and fall of the quintessential ’90s online service provider—and a warning about today’s social-media giants.

Dec 15, 2022 / Feature / Joanne McNeil

The Contradictions of Adam Smith

The Contradictions of Adam Smith The Contradictions of Adam Smith

A conversation with Glory Liu about the thinker's influence on American politics, the many ways his work has been misunderstood, and why we remember Smith as a champion of capitali...

Dec 14, 2022 / Q&A / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Democrats Got Tough on Crime. Now There’s a Crisis of Aging Behind Bars.

Democrats Got Tough on Crime. Now There’s a Crisis of Aging Behind Bars. Democrats Got Tough on Crime. Now There’s a Crisis of Aging Behind Bars.

California and New York legislators are trying to undo the damage caused since the 1994 Crime Bill. But elder parole isn’t working as hoped.

Dec 14, 2022 / Feature / Victoria Law

The Radical Internationalism of the Spanish Civil War

The Radical Internationalism of the Spanish Civil War The Radical Internationalism of the Spanish Civil War

A new graphic history charts the exploits of those Americans serving in the war’s International Brigades.

Dec 14, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Bill Fletcher Jr.

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