History

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

A Fabricating Tyrant?: On Elizabeth Mitchell’s “Lincoln’s Lie”
A story of Lincoln’s economy with the truth demonstrates the same fault itself.
Evan KutzlerJan 7, 2021
- History
Beheaded
As a young woman, I fell in love with a man who owned a machete. He terrorized me for over a year. I have no doubt he would have killed me if I had stayed.
Leanne PhillipsJan 6, 2021
Unmaking California’s Central Valley
Water piped in from elsewhere has performed a peculiar kind of magic in California’s Central Valley, writes Sayd Randle. That magic is now dimming.
Sayd RandleDec 31, 2020
The Black College Experience: On Jelani M. Favors’s “Shelter in a Time of Storm”
Elwood Watson reviews Jelani M. Favors's new book, "Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism."
Elwood WatsonDec 31, 2020
- History
- Politics
War-Making and Crime-Fighting in a Punitive Society
Paul M. Renfro examines "The Punitive Turn in American Life," the new book by Michael S. Sherry.
Paul M. RenfroDec 30, 2020
- History
- Politics
Treating Epidemics in a Nazi Ghetto
In Theresienstadt, a Nazi ghetto, efficiently managing epidemics was how the Jewish inmates maintained some semblance of a livable society.
Anna Hájková, Michael BeckermanDec 29, 2020
ON LOS ANGELES: Part I: A Downtown in Downtown: Los Angeles’s Manifest Destiny
DTLA 2040 is an ambitious and comprehensive plan to guide the development of greater downtown.
Joseph GiovanniniDec 27, 2020
- History
- Politics
Paul R. Williams in Los Angeles: A Conversation with Janna Ireland
Janna Ireland discusses her new book of photos of L.A. buildings designed by a major Black architect.
Erin KaplanDec 22, 2020
- Art & Architecture
- History
Stars, Bars, and Memoirs
A West Point brigadier general takes aim at the Army’s history of coddling Confederate iconography.
Charles DunstDec 18, 2020
The Puritans Are Alright
Do Puritans get a bad rap? Ed Simon reviews Michael P. Winship's "Hot Protestants."
Ed SimonDec 16, 2020
- History
- Religion
The Battlefield of Memory: On Rana Mitter’s “China’s Good War”
Through Rana Mitter’s book “China’s Good War,” Yangyang Cheng reflects on government control of the memory, legacy, and meaning of World War II in China.
Yangyang ChengDec 15, 2020
Reclaiming Black Beaches: On Alison Rose Jefferson’s “Living the California Dream”
Eisa Nefertari Ulen considers "Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites during the Jim Crow Era" by Alison Rose Jefferson.
Eisa Nefertari UlenDec 15, 2020
- History