David McCullough

The story of America is precisely the heroic story of pioneers who bring the American ideal again and again to the West.

In ignoring the messy realities of westward expansion, McCullough’s "The Pioneers" is both incomplete and dull.

Harry Truman used antisemitic slurs in private. But his surprise decision 75 years ago to recognize Israel, launching a fierce alliance, was a long time coming.

Institutions meant to secure peace, from NATO to the U.N., date back to Truman’s Presidency. So do the conflicts threatening that peace.

A conversation with presidential biographers Jonathan Alter and Kai Bird.

How the 33rd president finagled his way to a post–White House fortune — and created a damaging precedent.

The conflict between commercialization and historic preservation.

How a pop historian shaped the soul of Biden’s presidency.

H.W. Brands' new one-volume history of the American West reads too much like a movie we’ve already seen.

Nearly two decades ago, historians embraced a hugely wasteful federal education program. It’s past time to reckon with that.

On October 15th, a tweet by Bunk contributing editor Kevin Levin touched off this fascinating exchange between several historians on the subject of popular history. Among the topics it covered were novelty, craft, context... and the musical Hamilton.

Too often, we look to history not to understand it, but to seek out confirmation for our preexisting beliefs. That’s a problem.

If Jackson's presidency had been later, he may have prevented the Civil War.

Has the celebrated musical eclipsed the man himself?

240 years after the American Revolution, debates over how to interpret the conflict and its leaders continue.