Cold War — Bunk History

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A newspaper reports that only 1 in 3 Americans support Kennedy's goal to land on the moon, per Gallup.

Most of America Opposed the Moon Landing

Before that "giant leap for mankind" Americans weren't so enthusiastic.

by Louis Anslow via Pessimists Archive on July 20, 2025

A magnifying glass rests atop Arthur Schlessinger's THe Cycle of American History.

What If the Political Pendulum Doesn’t Swing Back?

"The Cycles of American History" foresaw American voter dealignment, and an age of voters prioritizing personality over party—but it didn’t anticipate Trump.

by Michael Brenes via The New Republic on July 11, 2025

Workers adjust a metal sheet on a Titan missile assembly line.

The Permanent War Economy Doesn’t Benefit Workers

Advocates of “military Keynesianism” present it as a boon for the working class. In reality, it diverts resources away from social provision.

by Hanna Goldberg via Jacobin on June 23, 2025

Martin Luther King Jr stands behind a podium.

5 Lessons From the Real Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This Juneteenth we need to discard the caricatures of King that we so often see and learn from what he actually did and believed.

by Jeanne Theoharis via The Nation on June 19, 2025

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters.

Trump May be Repeating Reagan's Deep Sea Mining Mistake

Undermining international oceans governance could damage American interests.

by Sonya Schoenberger via Made By History on June 17, 2025

An illustration of blurry Korean people in the ruins of a city after a nuclear bombing.

The Atomic Bombs’ Forgotten Korean Victims

Survivors of the nuclear blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still fighting for recognition.

by E. Tammy Kim via The New Yorker on June 16, 2025

Karl Marx's face in the American flag

The Marxists Are Coming

Calls to defund the Marxist left and similar mobilizations against rumors of a new red dawn are nothing new.

by Mathias Fuelling via The Baffler on June 10, 2025

George Kennan; American soldiers and helicopters in Vietnam.

Conservative Realism and Vietnam

We were warned.

by Francis P. Sempa via Modern Age on May 12, 2025

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Helms, framed by a camera shutter.

Is Spying Un-American?

Espionage has always been with us, but its rapid growth over the past century may have undermined trust in government.

by James Santel via The Atlantic on May 8, 2025

Cardinals walking through the Vatican.

Why Papal Conclaves Have Drawn the Attention of Spies

Intelligence agencies have long gathered information to help their governments get a sense of who the next pope might be.

by Yvonnick Denoël via Made By History on May 7, 2025

Lin Taiyi takes dictation from her father, Dr. Lin Yutang, on a typewriter he invented.

Lost and Found: The Unexpected Journey of the MingKwai Typewriter

Its ingenious design inspired generations of language-processing technology, but only one prototype was made and had long been assumed lost.

by Yangyang Chen via Made In China Journal on May 2, 2025

Helicopter, soldiers, and civilians at the fall of Saigon.

How We Oversimplified the History of the Vietnam War

Popular memory of the war in both the U.S. and Vietnam tends to cast the fall of Saigon as inevitable.

by Andrew Bellisari via Made By History on April 30, 2025

John F. Kennedy and George McGovern discuss Food for Peace.

How Foreign Aid Can Benefit Both the U.S. and the World

Food for Peace exemplifies the value of internationalism and humanitarian endeavors in American foreign policy.

by Thomas J. Knock via Made By History on April 23, 2025

A group of Asian men standing with towels around their necks

“Endless Bad Infinity”

A conversation with the creators of a podcast series on the feedback loop of American empire.

by Charlotte E. Rosen, Noah Kulwin, Brendan James via Public Books on April 22, 2025

Headshots of Charles Murray, Friedrich Hayek, and Elon Musk in front of a red backgrounds.

Free Markets and Fixed Natures

How neoliberals fell in love with “human nature”—the glue that still unites the divergent factions of the new right.

by Quinn Slobodian via Boston Review on April 9, 2025

A caricature of Murray Kempton.

The Rebellions of Murray Kempton

One of his generation’s most prolific journalists, Kempton never turned a blind eye to the inequalities all around him.

by Vivian Gornick via The Nation on April 8, 2025

Donald Trump and the presidential seal in an empty theater.

The Hoax that Spawned an Age of American Conspiracism

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are just the latest populists to weaponise fears of a sinister “deep state”.

by Phil Tinline via New Statesman on April 2, 2025

Photograph of JFK speaking to a crowd.

MAGA Without Greatness

From "National Greatness" to "Make America Great Again."

by Joshua Tait via To Live Is To Maneuver on March 19, 2025

Collage of protesters holding up signs against war taxes.

Could Tax Protests Defund the American War Machine?

Tax resistance has long opposed war and empire in North America, and could be a way to resist U.S. funding of violence in Gaza today.

by Lauren Fadiman via Current Affairs on March 18, 2025

Shield with the words "For European Recovery Supplied by the United States of America."

Soft Power

What it means, why it matters, and where it started.

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via Imperfect Union on March 15, 2025

Alvin Ailey

How to Forget Alvin Ailey

Even as “Edges of Ailey” gathers such intimate documents, it does not make them legible to its visitors.

by Juliana Devaan via Public Books on March 12, 2025

Frank Wisner's photo covered with official seals.

The Making of a Cold War Spy

The life and work of Frank Wisner, one of the CIA’s founding officers, offers us a portrait of American intelligence’s excesses.

by Adam Hochschild via The Nation on March 11, 2025

Ronald Reagan standing before a podium and a row of American flags.

The Rise of Ronald Reagan, a Product of California

On the early career of the actor-cum-politician who changed America.

by Michael Hiltzik via Literary Hub on February 26, 2025

Laborers in El Salvador receive food allotments as part of a program sponsored by U.S.A.I.D., in 1983.

Growing Up U.S.A.I.D.

As a child in postings around the world, the author witnessed the agency’s complex relationship with American empire—and with autocrats everywhere.

by Jon Lee Anderson via The New Yorker on February 25, 2025

President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

The First Draft of the Ukraine War’s History

Washington’s policy-makers showed themselves more wicked and feckless than their Vietnam- and Iraq-era predecessors.

by Scott McConnell via The American Conservative on February 19, 2025

A magnifying glass and Francis Fukuyama's book "The End of History and the Last Man."

Francis Fukuyama Was Right About Liberal Democracy

For all of its faults and weaknesses, no serious competitor has emerged to capture people’s imagination or seriously challenge it.

by Michael A. Cohen via The New Republic on February 18, 2025

Richard Nixon and Zhou Enlai

How Nixon’s 1972 China Visit Set the Stage for Today’s Tensions Over Taiwan

The legacy of Nixon's strategic ambiguity of acknowledging China's claim to Taiwan without fully committing.

via Retro Report on February 18, 2025

Document stamped "classified."

Trump Breaks Washington’s Secrecy Addiction

The president is right to release the Kennedy files.

by James W. Carden via The American Conservative on February 14, 2025

A welder in protective gear works on a metal frame in an industrial setting.

Trump's Punitive Approach to Drug Addiction is Nothing New

For a century, Americans have embraced a punitive approach to addiction—one that has undermined treatment efforts.

by Holly M. Karibo via Made By History on February 10, 2025

A satellite orbiting the Earth.

Inside the CIA’s Decades-Long Climate “Spy” Campaign

How a top-secret satellite surveillance program accidentally documented climate change.

by Rachel Santarsiero via 3 Quarks Daily on February 7, 2025

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