Memory

A new book argues that race and racism fueled the fires of the American Revolution.

Memorials of World War I should focus on the truth—that it was bloody and pointless.

And why we need to rediscover its real meaning.

Reliving the events of 1998 was traumatic, yes—but also worth it, if it helps another young person avoid being “That Woman”-ed.

On writing the story of America, the rise and fall of the fact, and how women’s intellectual authority is undermined.

Reflections on live-tweeting the Great War.

Who in the reproductive rights debate can claim Susan B. Anthony?

The Instagram feed where friends and family post tributes to loved ones who died of Aids-related illnesses has become an extraordinary compendium of lost lives.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy is still a functioning organization with white supremacist roots.

His accounts of polarization in ancient Athens are as relevant today they were thousands of years ago.

You can’t tell the story of America without the story of labor.

Revisiting the wreckage on the centenary of the armistice.

What if America's inability to agree on its shared history—and how to teach it—is a cause of our polarization and political dysfunction, rather than a symptom?

I was raised to venerate Lee the principled patriot—but I want no association with Lee the defender of slavery.

An university press editor considers the merits and limitations of biography as a scholarly form.

Why the statesmen of the Roman Republic had such an influence on the patriots of the Revolutionary era.

Why is there still no memorial to Paine, the immigrant whose writing galvanized the American Revolution?

A review of Jill Lepore's new book, which she has called the most ambitious single-volume American history written in generations.

Architectural history in an era of capitalist ruin.

The roll call for the names of 74 African Americans sold into slavery by Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis was solemn.

The roots of the attacks on Elizabeth Warren.

Most of President Donald Trump's 20th-century predecessors expressed profound admiration for Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

A makeshift memorial in New Mexico dedicated to Hispanic Union soldiers "looks like just a taco stand, without any tacos."

It wasn't simply a matter of getting the history right.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on why it's so important to tell the stories of people who have fueled social justice movements.

In her groundbreaking new book, Monica Muñoz Martinez uncovers the legacy of a brutal past.

We’re not equipping children to become good citizens.

Though Donald Trump has made it into a catchphrase, he didn’t come up with the metaphor “drain the swamp.”

This is even trickier now that the language of critical thinking has been appropriated by the alt-right.

Teachers and students love "A People’s History of the United States." But it’s just as limited as the textbooks it replaces.