How Press Freedom—and Section 230—Led to Derek Chauvin's Conviction
Imagine a world in which media outlets were unable or afraid to post video of police and other authorities acting reprehensibly.
History
Without a World War, We Have an Unaffordable War-Sized Government
Americans distract themselves with freak-show headlines while political institutions escape their control.
G. Gordon Liddy: The Hollywood Years
Friday A/V Club: How a Watergate burglar spent the '80s
Andra Day Shines in a Confused Interpretation of The United States vs. Billie Holiday
What we know about Holiday’s mistreatment is compelling enough without muddling her history.
RIP Mark Schlefer, the Man Who Made FOIA Happen
"In the drafting, we were adamant that you didn't have to have an interest to have access. You could just be a citizen."
A Radical History of Tennis?
Despite some interesting tidbits, a new history of the game falls short.
Was the Reagan Revolution Really Reagan's?
While we're at it, was it really a revolution?
San Francisco School Board President Says Critics of School Renaming Are Undermining Anti-Racist Work
"What I keep hearing is you're trying to undermine the work that has been done through this process."
The Sordid History of the Fairness Doctrine
It was terrible for free speech on the radio dial. We shouldn't inflict it on the internet too.
San Francisco Residents Balk at Decision To Scrub Lincoln, Washington, Feinstein from School Names
Plus: Smoking rates stop falling, ACLU defends man banned from library over Trump poem, and more...
Miracles and Magic
The desire to know one's fortune seems to be an instinctive human urge.
Americans and Their Foreign Entanglements
Nothing in U.S. history suggests that ordinary Americans are isolationists—but nothing suggests they've embraced international adventurism either.
How Immigrants Make America Great Again (and Again and Again)
A new book documents that newcomers revitalize beliefs in hard work, property rights, and the rule of law.
Frederick Douglass vs. the 1619 Project
A new book explicates the escaped slave and renowned orator's argument that the Constitution is "a glorious liberty document" that justified ending slavery.
Damon Root: Why Frederick Douglass Loved the Constitution (and You Should Too)
The escaped slave called the Constitution "a glorious liberty document" that justified extending equality to blacks and women.
Trip Out with Timothy Leary's Ex-Girlfriend in My Psychedelic Love Story
A documentary describes a drug-fueled countercultural romance.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks: Believe in People
The libertarian billionaire and the head of his foundation discuss their new book, leaving partisanship behind, and learning from their critics.
Libertarian History/Philosophy
Charles Koch and Brian Hooks on Learning From Your Critics
The libertarian philanthropist and CEO of Stand Together on their new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World
Virginia Postrel: When Calico Was Treated Like Cocaine
The former Reason editor discusses her new book, The Fabric of Civilization, and why she's optimistic about the future.
Dorothy Day: Personalist Hero
The enigmatic founder of the Catholic Worker Movement was an extraordinary avatar of nonviolent dissent.
The Guillotine Mystique
The French Revolution has long inspired progressive radicals ready for change at any cost.
Joe Biden Should Stop Bragging About the Violence Against Women Act
The Democratic nominee championed the law as a way to protect women. Instead, it hurt them.
Bob Chitester: How Free To Choose Changed the World
Here's the inside story of Milton Friedman's path-breaking PBS series about economic and political freedom, from the man who produced it.
'Where Would the Black Lives Matter Movement Be Without the Right to Free Speech?'
Ira Glasser, former head of the ACLU, is worried that his former group is embracing identity politics over free speech.
Salvaging Secession
The Founders understood union as a strategic necessity, not a moral imperative.
Before TMZ and Page Six, America Turned to Walter Winchell for Gossip
PBS documentary recounts life of America’s pioneer of tawdry fame coverage.
Welcome to the New World Civilization
Even as specific states or regions rise and fade in prominence, their inhabitants continue to enjoy the benefits of their civilization's cumulative experience and knowledge.
Election 2000: The Last Holiday-from-History Election
"Do we have a president yet?" we laughed.
Seeing Like an Anarchist
How former slaves built an autonomous, self-sufficient, and nearly stateless society in the mountains of Haiti, and how they lost it
Yes, the 1619 Project Actually Suggests That Year Was America's True Founding, and Nikole Hannah-Jones Admits It
The New York Times tried to disassociate itself from a claim its reporter made just a few days ago.
Gun Control Puts Your Life at Risk
In the 20th century, far more people were murdered by genocidal governments than by armed criminals.
The Iranian Coup that Led to 67 Years of Reckless Intervention
The documentary Coup 53 explores how a seemingly easy regime change wrecked U.S. foreign policy for decades.
New Survey on Public Ignorance About the Holocaust
The poll shows extensive ignorance among millenials and Generation Z, and is consistent with many previous studies showing widespread ignorance about politics and history. But one of its findings may be less bad than it looks.
The World Is Doing Better Than Ever. Here's Why You Never Hear About It.
Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know documents progress and explains why it happens.
Ronald Bailey: The World Is Getting Cleaner, Richer, and Safer
Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know documents the immense, ongoing progress that politicians and media refuse to acknowledge.
Can the Republican Party Survive Trump?
A political party can be destroyed by warring factions after it nominates a celebrity candidate and loses its coherence. That’s what happened…after 1848, when the Whigs backed Zachary Taylor.
How the Government Created RCA
A century before its threats against TikTok, Washington pried a different media company out of foreign hands.
When Joe Biden Tried To Paint Clarence Thomas as a Crazy Libertarian
The episode reflects poorly on Biden.
Indians and Aliens
Human beings' disturbing capacity to manufacture history to serve our own ends
Should Congress Take Down Its Statue of Racist Chief Justice Roger Taney?
A bust of the Dred Scott author stands in the old Supreme Court chambers in the capitol.
John Lewis Was an American Hero Who Battled State Racism
John Lewis' life was a testament to the power of free speech and peaceful agitation.
A New Charles Manson Documentary Series Pulls All the Disturbing Threads Together
Helter Skelter: An American Myth doesn’t shed new light, but it’s excellent journalism.
