History - Quillette

Chronicle of a War, 20 Years On

The case for removing the worst of the Arab prison states looks more justifiable than ever, even as the blunders involved in its execution look even more unpardonable.

Brian Stewart

19 Mar 2023 · 15 min read

“Be Vigilant, America”

Two forgotten films from 1942 about Japanese internment offer a window into the shameful nativism of wartime America.

Thomas Doherty

6 Mar 2023 · 10 min read

Forgetting vs. Overcoming: Abuses of History and the 1619 Project

The 1619 Project is, strangely, a history project that encourages forgetting as much as it remembers.

Robert C. Thornett

2 Mar 2023 · 15 min read

Heidegger’s Downfall

Richard Wolin’s reappraisal of Martin Heidegger offers both original contributions and a synthesis of critical scholarship. The result is a timely work of enduring importance.

Jeffrey Herf

22 Feb 2023 · 18 min read

A Mummy by Any Other Name

A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, curators bent on ‘decolonizing’ history have become needlessly skittish about the M-word.

Steven Tucker

16 Feb 2023 · 14 min read

‘Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad’—A Review

It wasn’t lost on black soldiers that they were being called upon to liberate oppressed peoples overseas, even as they faced prejudice in the United States.

Tim Cook

10 Feb 2023 · 8 min read

Colonialism and Its Discontents

Oxford ethicist Nigel Biggar’s controversial reassessment of Britain’s imperial record has reignited an important academic quarrel over the meaning and legacy of empire.

John Lloyd

6 Feb 2023 · 16 min read

America’s Forgotten Crisis

A terrific new account of America’s social and political turmoil during the 1910s and ’20s provides some much-needed perspective on the problems afflicting the country today.

Michael J. Totten

17 Dec 2022 · 13 min read

The Philadelphia Experiments

How an enterprising doctor, an elite university, and negligent public officials turned a city prison system into the largest human research factory in America.

Allen M. Hornblum

10 Dec 2022 · 26 min read

Fukuyama’s Victory

Liberal democracy has again proved itself capable of overcoming its internal challenges and contradictions.

Matt Johnson

7 Dec 2022 · 22 min read

Misremembering the Korean War

The profound difference in quality of life on opposing sides of the 38th parallel today offers a rebuke to those who portray the US-led intervention in Korea as immoral or futile.