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
· 11 min read
History
A collection of 353 posts
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 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
· 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
· 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
· 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
· 14 min read
Chernobyl Revisited
Much of the tragedy resides in our collective response to the meltdown.
Lea Booth
· 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
· 26 min read
Introducing ‘The Nations of Canada’
The project that (finally) got me hooked on Canadian history.
Jonathan Kay
· 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
· 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
· 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
· 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
· 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
· 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
· 15 min read