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 10 Feb 2025 · 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 6 Feb 2025 · 14 min read
The Tyranny of Fragility How Alexis de Tocqueville foretold the rise of victimhood culture. Samuel Veissière 13 Jan 2025 · 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 30 Dec 2024 · 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 29 Aug 2024 · 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 20 Jul 2024 · 19 min read
Making America British Again The story of William Cobbett and the American Revolutionary culture wars. David A. Wilson 9 Jul 2024 · 13 min read
How the Pro-Palestine Movement Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement An interview with historian Gil Troy. Pamela Paresky / Gil Troy 3 Jul 2024 · 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 26 Feb 2024 · 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. 15 Jan 2024 · 14 min read
Preparations, Not Reparations If good educational opportunities were there for the taking, the sense of racial injustice in America would be much less. Eric Silver / John Iceland 19 Nov 2023 · 7 min read
British and Black Contemporary antiracism imposes an American framework that distorts our understanding of racial issues in different countries. Ralph Leonard 20 Oct 2023 · 12 min read
Columbus Day: A Fraught Celebration The world is better than it would have been had we remained isolated from each other—even for Native Americans. Christopher J. Ferguson 9 Oct 2023 · 7 min read
The Cancellation of Bertrand Russell Eight decades later, the issues raised by the Russell case—the rights to free speech and academic freedom—have still not been settled. James Huffman 15 Sep 2023 · 9 min read
Are We Teaching That Slavery Is Beneficial? That slaves were able to develop beneficial skills while in bondage is a tribute to the human ability to wrest value and create meaning even under conditions of almost unfathomable duress. James B. LaGrand 8 Aug 2023 · 4 min read