The Social Media of 1939
Friday A/V Club: Ham radio days
History
The Ever-Shifting Politics of the Department of Education
Supported by Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott, opposed by Shirley Chisholm and Jerry Brown—the department has a long history of scrambling political alliances.
For a Study in Failed Foreign Policy, Look at the Seven Countries in Trump's Refugee Ban
The dissonance between the countries the Trump EO primarily affects and countries associated with 9/11 is embedded in U.S. foreign policy.
If Trump Is Going To Start Deporting Immigrants Who Broke the Law, Will He Start with Melania?
A lot of evidence suggests the First Lady broke the law in her early days in the United States. Which is an argument to CHANGE THE LAWS.
Love Canal Down the Memory Hole
A review of Love Canal: A Toxic History from Colonial Times to the Present
If These Walls Could Sprechen
The story of a small German cottage built by Jews, seized by Nazis, gifted to a Stasi informant, and taken over by punk rockers
Don't Like Militarized Police and Mass Incarceration? Blame Progressivism.
Talking about racism won't end these problems
When the British Interfered in American Elections
Lessons for the debate over Trump and Russia
The Peace Prize Winner Who Waged War
In 2009, Barack Obama acknowledged that the Nobel Peace Prize honor was aspirational. In 2017, it still is.
There Was More Than One Christmas Truce
Officers tried to stop the Christmas Truce of 1914 from recurring, but they didn't always succeed.
Turkey: The Dangers of Historical Analogy
"History provides lessons for the present, not spoilers for the future."
Bloodthirsty Mickey Mouse Attacks Innocent Children
Friday A/V Club: Japanese propagandists do Disney.
The PizzaGate Gunman's Paranoid Rescue Fantasy Comes from a Long American Tradition
And that tradition hasn't been confined to the fringe.
HBO Documentaries Illuminate Castro's Brutal Cuba
Two offerings coincide with strongman's death.
Robert Ford Killed Jesse James—Or At Least That's What They Want You to Believe
Friday A/V Club: Jesse James trutherism
When Fidel Castro Went on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show
There was a time when many Americans perceived Cuba's late leader as a hero.
Thanksgiving Tragedy
Property rights saved the Pilgrims from starvation; a lack of property rights keeps Indians in poverty today.
'Fake News' Is Easier to Trace and Debunk Than Ever Before
From Al Smith and Eleanor Roosevelt to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
Hogwarts in America
In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling crosses the Atlantic and makes a hash of North American history and culture.
Could Trump Lose the Way Gore Lost?
Electoral College math makes victory a challenge.
The 2016 Election As Told By Victorian Political Memes
Swap "social justice warriors" for "suffragettes" and these early 20th-century memes could be clogging up a Twitter timeline near you.
Shrink the Supreme Court?
A GOP proposal to deny Clinton's appointment choices may backfire.
Future Nobel Laureate Warns: The Antichrist Is Coming!
Friday A/V Club: The Devil and Bob Dylan
The Haunted House That Guns Built
Did a marketing campaign trick Americans into loving firearms?
America's Other World War II Internment Camps
The legacy of the German and Japanese prisoners held hostage
Mexico Needs Independence From the Cronies Who Hold Its Economy Back
The aristocrats who rebelled against Spain to maintain their high standing in Mexican society never really went away.
Today in History: Socialist Eugene Debs Sentenced to Prison for Giving Anti-War Speech
In case in which the government and the courts rejected the First Amendment.
Anarchy, Swamp, and Utopia
Archeologists offer a new look at a secretive settlement of runaway slaves.
The Executive Branch Doesn't Need a New Ornament
If the president had a Council of Historical Advisers, what would it tell him about the idea of creating a "Council of Historical Advisers"?
One Candidate Had a Foreign Policy That Anticipated Trump's
From George Wallace to Donald Trump
Frederick Douglass on Capitalism, Slavery, and the 'Arrant Nonsense' of Socialism
Understanding the political philosophy of the abolitionist leader.
Alcohol Prohibition Was a Dress Rehearsal for the War on Drugs
Harvard historian Lisa McGirr on how our national ban on booze never really ended.
Alaska's Love Affair with Third Parties
Few states are as open to alternative candidates as Alaska.
Friday A/V Club: When the Governor Has a Libertarian Side
The Maryland governor who defied Prohibition, and the Utah governor who wouldn't pay his income tax
"The Alternative To Innovation Is Not Stability. It's Stagnation."
Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute & Center for the Advancement of Capitalism wants business owners to champion free markets better.
