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
Not a Genocide Terrible things happened at many of Canada’s Residential Schools. But describing these institutions as instruments of mass murder is inaccurate. Ian Gentles 2 Aug 2023 · 34 min read
Eight Hundred Years of Russian Despotism: An Interview with Orlando Figes In a new book, the historian traces modern Russian aggression to an apocalyptic mythology rooted deep in the nation’s past. Jonathan Kay 7 Jul 2023 · 10 min read
Celebrating the Legacy of Canada’s First Prime Minister Far from being an ‘architect of genocide,’ John A. Macdonald championed policies that were humane by 19th-century standards Greg Piasetzki 1 Jul 2023 · 11 min read
The Reverse Opium War Beijing looks the other way, and the deadly medicine sails West just as its natural ancestor once sailed East. Aaron Sarin 14 Jun 2023 · 14 min read
Up the St. Lawrence In the fifth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Jacques Cartier’s first encounters with the Mi’kmaq and Iroquois. Greg Koabel 6 Jun 2023 · 23 min read
John Cabot’s New Found Land In the fourth instalment of an ongoing Quillette series, historian Greg Koabel describes how the quest for cod and a possible passage to China sparked England’s first transatlantic ventures Greg Koabel 19 May 2023 · 33 min read
A Mixture of Pride and Shame The left’s refusal to frame the British Empire as anything but a force for pure evil makes for effective culture-war politics. But it also makes for bad history. Nigel Biggar 8 May 2023 · 11 min read
Disquiet on the Western Front Edward Berger’s award-winning film is a deeply flawed adaptation that replaces the book’s complexity and humanity with hyperbolic surrealism and misanthropy. Alan S. Rome 4 May 2023 · 14 min read
Chernobyl Revisited Much of the tragedy resides in our collective response to the meltdown. Lea Booth 26 Apr 2023 · 8 min read
Canada’s Norse Interregnum In the second instalment of an ongoing Quillette series, historian Greg Koabel describes how Leif Erikson ended up in Newfoundland Greg Koabel 20 Apr 2023 · 26 min read
Introducing ‘The Nations of Canada’ The project that (finally) got me hooked on Canadian history. Jonathan Kay 7 Apr 2023 · 8 min read
Canada’s First Inhabitants In a new Quillette series, historian and podcaster Greg Koabel traces the global origins of the land we now call Canada. Greg Koabel 5 Apr 2023 · 26 min read
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 · 17 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
