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President Theodore Roosevelt raising his hat to wave.

The Curse of Bigness

Until more Americans know what happened in periods such as the Gilded Age, they can’t protect themselves from those who abuse history to advance poor policy.
Map of Iowa and a drawing of a factory processing corn.

Searching for the Spirit of the Midwest

Was the nineteenth-century Midwest “the most advanced democratic society that the world had seen”?
Photograph of Felix Frankfurter opening a briefcase.

A Prisoner of His Own Restraint

Felix Frankfurter was renowned as a liberal lawyer and advocate. Why did he turn out to be such a conservative Supreme Court justice?
Black and white photo of Bessie Beatty

Woman on a Mission

For pioneering journalist Bessie Beatty, women’s suffrage and the plight of labor were linked inextricably.
Black and white side profile of Felix Frankfurter reading.

The Justice Who Wanted the Supreme Court to Get Out of the Way

Felix Frankfurter warned that politicians, not the courts, should make policy.
President Bill Clinton laughs after delivering remarks on welfare reform.

How the Democrats Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Free Market

In the 1990s, the New Democrats trusted corporations to do the right thing. The results were disastrous.
Picture of John Silber in a tuxedo.

Saving John Silber

What we can learn from the work of the university administrator who went toe to toe with Howard Zinn.
Booker T. Washington addressing a laughing crowd of African American men in Lakeland, Tennessee, during his campaign promoting African American education. Ca. 1900.

Market Solutions to Ancient Sins

Freedom and prosperity are the most effective cure for the scars of slavery and racism.
Book cover for Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage," showing a photo of incarcerated men speaking to the media.

How Rikers Island Made New York

In “Captives,” former Rikers detainee Jarrod Shanahan traces the history of New York City’s sprawling jail complex, and its centrality to brutal class struggle.
Blue and red donkey logo of the Democratic Party.

Hope in the Desert: Democratic Party Blues

In 'What It Took to Win,' Michael Kazin traces the history over the past two centuries of what he calls ‘the oldest mass party in the world’.
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama walking together

How to Tell the History of the Democrats

What connection does the party of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson have to the party of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris?
Women in 1978 Equal Rights Amendment March hold a banner that reads "National ERA March for Ratification and Extension"

The 1978 Equal Rights Amendment March

On a broiling summer afternoon in 1978, the Women's Movement held what was then known as the largest parade for feminism in history.
Eugene Debs delivering a speech in 1912.

An American History of the Socialist Idea

The American socialism movement's open participation in and with the broad democratic left benefits the socialist cause.
"What difference would another world make?", Sam Pulitzer, 2021.

New Left Review

Who did neoliberalism?
Black and white photograph of four men standing amongst barrels of alcohol.

The Truth About Prohibition

The temperance movement wasn’t an example of American exceptionalism; it was a globe-spanning network of activists and politicians against economic exploitation.
Anti-vaxxer holding a sign that says save our children

School Board Meetings Used to be Boring. Why Have They Become War Zones?

Conservatives can’t turn back the clock. But they can disrupt local meetings.
Black and white photo of John Maynard Keynes and wife Lydia Lopokova

Left, Right and Keynes

Today's centrists are a hot mess.
A tent with “the 99%” written on it

Occupy Wall Street at 10: What It Taught Us, and Why It Mattered

It basically started the wave of activism that revived the left—and taught people to get serious about power.
Old-time black and white pictures of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir with a modern city background

How American Environmentalism Failed

Traditional environmentalism has lacked a meaningful, practical democratic vision, rendering it largely marginal to the day-to-day lives of most Americans.
The Fuller Court

Whose Side Is the Supreme Court On?

The Supreme Court and the pursuit of racial equality.
Chemical plant worker

Where Would We Be Without the New Deal?

A new history charts the forgotten ways the social politics of the Roosevelt years transformed the United States.
FDR with eyes crossed out with red line

Is It Time to Cancel FDR?

Today’s progressives are children of the old Republican Party, not the New Deal Democrats. Roosevelt and his followers stood for nearly everything they oppose.
A 1951 meeting between ADL leadership and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

The Anti-Democratic Origins of the Jewish Establishment

The history of the ADL and AJC reveals that they were created to consolidate the power of wealthy men and stifle the grassroots left.
George Schultz walking with Ronald Reagan outdoors
partner

George Shultz: The Last Progressive

A steadfast Republican committed to union-management cooperation, peace through treaties, competitive capitalism, and empowerment of African-Americans.
Helen Keller meeting JFK in the White House

The Helen Keller You Didn't Learn About in School

Limited education on Keller's life has implications for how students perceive people with disabilities .
Henry Wallace.

The Past and Future of the Left in the Democratic Party

Centrist Democrats who blamed the left for election losses would do well to remember the people who have fought for and shaped the party’s history.

Can Biden Be Pushed Left?

History suggests that what you see on the campaign trail, or even in a candidate’s past record, is not always what you get from a president once in power.
Artistic photo with american flags

Richard Hofstadter’s Discontents

Why did the historian come to fear the very movements he once would have celebrated?
Frances Perkins on a ship, wearing a winter coat and gloves.

Frances Perkins: Architect of the New Deal

She designed Social Security and public works programs that helped bring millions out of poverty. Her work has been largely forgotten.

The Real Story Behind “Because of Sex”

One of the most powerful phrases in the Civil Rights Act is often viewed as a malicious joke that backfired. But its entrance into law was far more savvy.

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