The Latest
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10-28-14
News at HomeEbola: Facts, Opinion, and Lies
Smart commentary and credible news about Ebola.
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10-28-14
News AbroadThis Is Where Ebola First Struck in 1976 and What Happened
Rod Tanchanco MD
It's a sad tale and it's being repeated.
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10-24-14
News at HomeHere’s How Rich the Richest 400 Americans Are — And How Their Money Undermines Democracy
Lawrence S. Wittner
Americans talk fondly of equality, but, to paraphrase a statement in George Orwell’s satire about another allegedly classless society, in this country some people are more equal than others.
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10-22-14
News AbroadEbola and ISIS: The Twin Plagues of Our Time
Timothy R. Furnish
Five striking similarities between the Ebola epidemic and Islamic terrorism present themselves.
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News at Home
The Historical Roots of the Ebola Scare in the United States
Sheldon M. Stern
Anyone familiar with America’s racial past will detect some disturbing parallels in these irrational if not hysterical fears.
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10-24-14
News AbroadThe Long Forgotten History of Tolerance for Religions of All Kinds in the Middle East
Gerard Russell
Religions that once flourished there are now in danger of disappearing. Why is this happening?
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10-26-14
Historians/HistoryWhat Can We Learn from History?
Robert Zaretsky
Political and moral judgment requires experience, both one’s own and that of others, distilled into narrative.
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10-26-14
News at HomeThose Ethnic Costumes Kids Wear on Halloween and Thanksgiving Perpetuate Racist Stereotypes
Enrique C. Ochoa and Gilda L. Ochoa
It’s time we are provided with greater historical context and critical awareness.
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10-26-14
Historians/History5 Ways Coffee Changed the Course of History in England
Rachel Rolnick
It even helped the establishment of democracy.
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10-26-14
News at HomeThis Is What Was Said About the Prisons the British Ran for Captured American Soldiers and Sailors. What Will History Say of Ours?
T.H. McGraw
The prison ship HMS Jersey was said to have housed some 8,000 prisoners in the waters of New York Harbor over seven years with as many as eight captives a day housed there being buried ashore in shallow graves near what is today, Brooklyn, New York.
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10-26-14
Historians/HistoryWhy the History Curriculum Matters
Laura Auricchio
Americans care deeply about history and how it’s taught. As we should. Were it not for a solid grasp of history, the United States might never have existed.
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10-26-14
News at HomeThe Founding Fathers Would Be Appalled at the Government's Declining Support of Science
Tom Shachtman
To a man, the Founders were committed to the importance of science and technology, which, in their day, were inseparable.
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10-26-14
Historians/HistoryRussians Mark the Start of World War II in 1941. Here's Why They're Wrong.
Roger Moorhouse
Russians like to pretend they were uninvolved in WW II until Hitler's attack. This is a lie.
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10-26-14
Historians/HistoryIs Jefferson the Fall Guy for the Problems of Our Time?
M. Andrew Holowchak
Why historians cannot readily situate Jefferson.
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10-23-14
News AbroadAfghanistan's New President Thinks His Wife Can Play a Decisive Role in the Country's Future Despite Her Gender. Why He's Right.
Ali A. Olomi
This wouldn't be the first time a woman has the chance to rise to a position of great influence in Afghanistan.
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9-22-14
BooksReview of Nechama Tec's "Resistance: Jews and Christians Who Defied the Nazi Terror"
Patrick Henry
Her latest study breaks new ground even as it reiterates the major themes of her illustrious life’s work.
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10-27-14
Culture WatchClassic Fright Fests and Old Movies Highlight Halloween
Bruce Chadwick
Horror movies have had their fans since the 1920s. Frankenstein, Dracula and company have wandered over the earth and the silver screen with shivering majesty for generations.
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Books
Reviews of 3 Books about the History of Education
Luther Spoehr
Three reviews of books on the history of American education for the price of one.
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10-24-14
Culture WatchKeeping Your Head While Watching Henry VIII Try to Solve His Many Problems
Bruce Chadwick
The production at Drew University is pretty good, despite a slow and tedious start and some jumpy scenes in the latter part of the second act. Mullins gets tremendous acting from his stars.
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10-24-14
RoundupRoundup Top 10!
This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.
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10-20-14
Historians/HistoryThis Is What It's Like When You're Living in an Old Folks' Home (It Could Easily Be Worse)
Vaughn Davis Bornet, Ph.D., CDR (USNR, ret)
A 97 year old scholar tells what it’s like to live in an institution for the elderly.
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10-17-14
Historians/HistorySometimes, the Cover-up Works: What the Tapes Show LBJ Did in 1964
Robert "KC" Johnson
An aide had been arrested in a washroom. The election was just weeks away. LBJ was worried.
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10-19-14
News at HomeIt's Been Two Years Since Sandy: The Lesson We Missed
Gregory Rosenthal
Who got hurt in Sandy depended on their class and race.
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10-19-14
Historians/HistoryThis Is How Abraham Lincoln Played Politics. And It Won Him Re-Election.
Harold Holzer
He did it by cutting deals with the powerful leaders of New York's three newspaper publishers.
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10-19-14
News AbroadTo Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Do Away With Borders Instead of Firing Across Them
Mathias Mossberg and Mark LeVine
It's time to think creatively.
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10-19-14
Historians/HistoryWhy I Stand by What I Wrote About the Dutch
Russell Shorto
It goes without saying that the Dutch founders of New York were bigoted—just like all Europeans of the time. But they also laid the roots of tolerance.
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10-19-14
News AbroadWhy Are Palestinians Still Living as Refugees 6 Decades Later?
Alon Ben-Meir
"The Palestinian people are creative, vibrant, resourceful, and proud people; they must not continue to live in a state of contrived conditions of misery, fed with empty slogans."
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10-19-14
Historians/HistoryWhat Should You Include in an Encyclopedia?
Gregory Norris
That's the question the editors of Encyclopaedia Aethiopica faced. But did they make the right choices?
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10-19-14
News at HomeThis Is What Happened to Gay People in Florida 50 Years Ago. It Should Never Happen Again.
Jonathan Harrison
It is only 50 years ago that the state of Florida was hounding lesbians and gays from their jobs in schools and universities.
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10-19-14
News AbroadWhy We Felt It Was Essential to Publish an Anti-Boycott Book
Cary Nelson
The arguments put forward by the BDS movement needed to be answered.
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10-19-14
Historians/HistoryThis Is How a Historian Ends Up Becoming a Novelist Who Writes About Vampires
Brandy Schillace
"Did I mention I’m a historian? Right. I also write vampire fiction.”
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10-17-14
Culture WatchThe Awful Secret of Children’s Lives
Bruce Chadwick
Stalking the Bogeyman is one of the best history plays, best plays of any genre, this year.
News
- Hero Marine Dad Will Unleash Hell Itself If Daughter’s World History Class Says Muslims Are Real
- Historians Against the War joins peace activists in pressing Congress to support a diplomatic solutions to conflict with Iran over nukes
- Despite new hires, Yale history department retains vacancies
- African-American Professor: Reagan Did More To Help Black Education Than Obama
- Turning West, Historians Take a Wider View of Early America