A Subterranean Celebration
How the 6 Gallery reading in San Francisco on 7 October 1955 changed the counterculture.
David S. Wills
· 13 min read
American History
A collection of 22 posts
Podcast #303: When New Netherland Became New York
Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Russell Shorto, whose new book chronicles the extraordinary events in 1664 that delivered Manhattan from the Dutch to the British.
Quillette
· 27 min read
Another JFK Assassination Nothingburger
Jefferson Morley’s dogged pursuit of a CIA connection in Miami is all smoke and no fire.
Fred Litwin
· 16 min read
Disco Inferno
Disco Demolition Night was an early episode of culture and counterculture being saddled with far greater political significance than they deserved.
George Case
· 10 min read
The Firing of Wolf Ladejinsky
What a Cold War scandal can teach us about democracy.
Michael Conlon
· 9 min read
American Exceptionalism Reconsidered
Exceptionalism is a double-edged sword, which cuts those blind to America’s flaws and those blind to its virtues.
Brian Stewart
· 7 min read
Mammy Dearest
Richard Bernstein’s new book about Al Jolson and ‘The Jazz Singer’ offers a thoughtful reconsideration of an unfairly reviled cultural landmark.
Graham Daseler
· 14 min read
The Tyranny of Fragility
How Alexis de Tocqueville foretold the rise of victimhood culture.
Samuel Veissière
· 8 min read
Jimmy Carter: Human Rights Champion
When we examine the entirety of his long life, we see that Jimmy Carter was among the very best of us.
Jamie Paul
· 7 min read
Forging Early America’s Northeastern Backbone
In a new book, David Alff traces the origins of the railway line that joined Boston to Washington, D.C., transforming a young nation in the process.
Jonathan Kay
· 18 min read
Dutchmen on the Hudson
In the 21st instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how the arrival of Dutch fur traders sparked an upheaval in regional Indigenous geopolitics.
Greg Koabel
· 19 min read
Making America British Again
The story of William Cobbett and the American Revolutionary culture wars.
David A. Wilson
· 13 min read
How the Pro-Palestine Movement Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement
An interview with historian Gil Troy.
Pamela Paresky, Gil Troy
· 31 min read
Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny Fight Fascism
The animation industry was perhaps the United States’ most potent cultural weapon during World War II.
Jacob Bielecki
· 15 min read
Martin Luther King’s Understanding of Racism
King’s sophisticated understanding of racism bridges two worldviews: that racism is primarily systemic and as well as interpersonal.
John R. Wood, Jr.
· 14 min read