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Richard Nixon.

He Told Richard Nixon to Confess

Most ministers were silent about Watergate. Why was one evangelical pastor different?

How America’s Rich Legacy of Fear and Hatred Fuels the Conspiracy Theories of Today

Panic about Catholics, Freemasons, and, later, Jews, is deeply woven into American history, and forms the basis of our fertile culture of conspiracy theorizing.
A drawing of a bust of Abraham Lincoln sitting on philosophy books.

From Königsberg to Gettysburg

How German Enlightenment thought influenced Abraham Lincoln.

The Ghosts Of New Atheism Still Haunt Us

In trying to freeze reality into a cudgel that can be used to assault political opponents, the New Atheists deny the observable evidence in front of them.

A Modest Proposal

More importantly, our misappropriation of “puritan” has allowed scholars to ignore and the public to misunderstand religion.
Ella Watson in American Gothic, photographed by Gordon Parks.

She Was No ‘Mammy’

Gordon Parks’s most famous photograph, "American Gothic," was of a cleaning woman in Washington, D.C. She has a story to tell.
A copy of "On Death and Dying" with a magnifying glass in front of it.

Lost in the Five Stages of Grief

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s “On Death and Dying” sparked a revolution in end-of-life care. But soon she began to deny mortality altogether.
Henry Ward Beecher.

When Preachers Were Rock Stars

A classic New Yorker account of the Henry Ward Beecher adultery trial recalls a time in America that seems both incomprehensible and familiar.
Keith Haring standing shirtless in front of one of his paintings.

Angels with Dirty Faces

How Keith Haring got his halo.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, March 26, 2024.

The Truth About the Comstock Act

The anti-obscenity law is unenforceable and probably unconstitutional. Conservatives still want to use it to ban medication abortions.
A presidential portrait of George Washington.

The Enduring Power of Purim

Since colonial times, the Book of Esther has proved a powerful metaphor in American politics.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Glad to the Brink of Fear

A new biography reveals how Ralph Waldo Emerson gave Americans a vocabulary to understand themselves in an era even more tempestuous than our own.
A couple in bed together, separated by a divider and watched by the girl's parents.

Bundling: An Old Tradition on New Ground

Common in colonial New England, bundling allowed a suitor to spend a night in bed with his sweetheart—while her parents slept in the next room.
A first edition of the book "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral", by Phillis Wheatley.

Presidents Day, Meet Black History Month

Remembering an exchange between George Washington and the poet Phillis Wheatley.
The First Women’s Rights Convention, Seneca Falls, 1848.

What American Divorces Tell Us About American Marriages

On the inseparable histories of matrimony and disunion in the United States.
A sign left behind by Trump supporters at a rally outside the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, September 27, 2023.

American Fascism

On how Europe’s interwar period informs the present.
Illustration of hands signing the fingerspelling alphabet

Unlocking Reason: How the Deaf Created Their Own System of Communication

Exploring Deaf history, language and education as the hearing child of a Deaf adult.
Black and white portrait of Jones Very

The Voice of Unfiltered Spirit

In the poetry of Jones Very, whom his contemporaries considered “eccentric” and “mad," the self is detached from everything by an intoxicated egoism.
Martin Luther King preaching at Ebeneezer Church.

Lessons from MLK's Fight to Mobilize the Black Church

The history of Black churches’ struggles offers both warnings and hope for the U.S. today.
A large KKK Rally with burning crosses in the background.

100 Years Ago, the KKK Planted Bombs at a US University – Part of Their Crusade Against Catholics

Most of the Klan’s victims were African American, but many other groups have been targeted during the hate group’s century and a half of history.
A gem tintype album of Elizabeth (Almy) Cobb Hall, with portraits of the Almy family and friends

Past Lives

Who wants to watch a show whose characters never make real moral choices?
A photograph of John G. Neihardt raising his fists to box.

A Tale of Two Visionaries

What roiled the mind of Nebraska poet John Neihardt with whom Black Elk, the iconic Lakota holy man, shared his story?
Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway standing on stage singing to each other.

Radical Light

The cosmic collision of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers.

How the Negro Spiritual Changed American Popular Music—And America Itself

In 1871, the Fisk University singers embarked on a tour that introduced white Americans to a Black sound that would reshape the nation.
partner

When Art Fuels Anger, Who Should Prevail?

Controversial artworks are flashpoints when artistic freedom and religious sensitivities collide.
Ohio abortion rights activists.
partner

The Problem With the Abortion-Rights Move That Worked in Ohio

History shows that activists can win statewide fights—but that the strategy might be unsustainable long-term.
Representative Mike Johnson speaking about his faith on Fox News

Of Little Faith

The relatively unknown Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana has been elevated to the powerful position of Speaker of the House.
Collage of Samuel Huntington, his essay "The Clash of Civilizations," and 21st-century political figure.

Samuel Huntington’s Great Idea Was Totally Wrong

His “Clash of Civilizations” essay in Foreign Affairs turned 30 this year. It was provocative, influential, manna for the modern right—and completely and utterly not true.
J. Edgar Hoover

How the FBI Aided the Rise of White Christian Nationalism in the US

It was J. Edgar Hoover who did more than any fire-breathing churchman to turn fearful white suburbanites into the crusaders of a renewed conservative backlash.
A photograph of Pharaoh Sanders.

Feel-Ins, Know-Ins, Be-Ins

The most hypnotic piece of music released so far in 2023 was recorded forty-seven years ago in a barely adequate studio in Rockland County, New York.

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