History

"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history." — George Bernard Shaw

There’s a Seeker Born Every Minute
Colin Marshall reviews Jeremy Braddock’s “Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums.”
Colin MarshallNov 1, 2024
A Technicolor Key to Trump’s Desires
Bill Lattanzi illuminates Trump’s dark fantasies through the lens of a Hollywood classic, Melville Shavelson’s “Houseboat.”
Bill LattanziOct 26, 2024
Eastern Moonbeams
Jonathan Conlin reviews Nile Green’s “Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah.”
Jonathan ConlinOct 26, 2024
Is It Time to Have Real Universal Suffrage in the United States?
Paul Finkelman reviews Richard L. Hasen’s “A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy.”
Paul FinkelmanOct 20, 2024
The New Artificial Intelligentsia
In the fifth essay of the Legacies of Eugenics series, Ruha Benjamin explores how AI evangelists wrap their self-interest in a cloak of humanistic concern.
Ruha BenjaminOct 18, 2024
- Science & Technology
- History
Manuscripts Don’t Burn
Raymond De Luca reviews a long-awaited new film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.”
Raymond De LucaOct 17, 2024
Is Trump “America’s Hitler”?
Donald Trump is sometimes compared to Adolf Hitler in his narcissism and authoritarianism. Tom Zoellner looks at German history for parallels and contradictions.
Tom ZoellnerOct 11, 2024
- History
- Politics
The Definitive History of Neo-Nazi Edgelords
Jordan Carroll reviews Spencer Sunshine’s “Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s ‘Siege.’”
Jordan S. CarrollOct 9, 2024
- History
- Politics
Kipling in Langley
Was the CIA more a product of the 19th-century Great Game than the 20th-century Cold War? Greg Barnhisel reviews “The CIA: An Imperial History” by Hugh Wilford.
Greg BarnhiselOct 5, 2024
American Mythology
Is the United States a prisoner of its own mythology? Tom Zoellner looks at “A Great Disorder” by Richard Slotkin.
Tom ZoellnerOct 4, 2024
Bourgeois Dreams, Black Rebellion
In an excerpt from “The Black Utopians,” Aaron Robertson writes on the early years of Albert Cleage Jr. and Detroit’s Black bourgeoisie.
Aaron RobertsonSep 28, 2024
Why Don’t We Know Who Bombed Nashville?
Who pulled off the unsolved bombings in Nashville? Jane Marcellus reviews “Dynamite Nashville” by Betsy Phillips, which advances an intriguing possibility.
Jane MarcellusSep 20, 2024
- History