Current Events that Relate to History
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CommentThe Return of Political Economic Nationalism
The populist turn in our politics is best understood as a revival of old categories of political economy.Law & Liberty -
Book ReviewRacism Isn’t the Only Cause of the Racial Wealth Gap
Widening the lens to capitalism itself could yield insights on how to close the gap.The New Republic -
CommentThe Shaky History of Mass Deportations
‘Operation Wetback’ and ‘Mexican Repatriation’ worked—until they didn’t.The Dispatch -
ExplainerThe Thinker Who Explains Trump’s Tariffs
Henry Charles Carey is arguably the most influential economist in American history.Compact -
Q&AHow Do We Combat the Racist History of Public Education?
On the schoolhouse’s role in enforcing racial hierarchy.The Nation -
Book ExcerptThe Curious Case of Clarence Bouldin
Was the pro wrestler known as “the Cuban Wonder” really the first Black world champion?The Ringer -
exhibitSocial Safety Net
How Americans through the years have approached the thorny questions of identifying who the government is obliged to help and how such assistance should be funded and distributed.
From the HNN Archive
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What Is the Role of the Historian?
Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution. -
Letting the World Scream
In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them. -
The First and Last Queen of Haiti in Exile
Queen Marie-Louise outlived most of her family, yet her story about the revolution and its aftermath was rarely consulted by those writing the era’s history. -
Ohio’s Little-Known Fascist Member of Congress
How a local prosecutor protected white supremacists and went on to a career in Washington, DC. -
The Forebears of JD Vance and the New Right
Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past. -
Nuggets of Condescension
By universalizing their own economic history, Western observers have used the past to portray African economic culture as backward and inadequate. -
The Burned-Over District
The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come. -
Who Built the Panama Canal?
Finding testimony from the Afro-Caribbean workers who changed the Americas forever.