Huey Long: United States Governor, Senator, and perhaps one of its greatest demagogues. In the following excerpt from The Demagogue’s Playbook, Eric A. Posner examines how Long highlighted American democracy’s susceptibility to the demagogue in the … Read the article
In the following excerpt from their book Four Threats, Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman discuss the violent rise of Southern Democrats in post-Civil War Wilmington, North Carolina that turned back decades of … Read the article
There are at least three reasons to read philosophers from other times and places. The first is that they are sometimes right (and sometimes in surprising ways), and we can learn from them when they are. The … Read the article
Over the past six decades, Henry Kissinger has been America’s most consistently praised—and reviled—public figure. He was hailed as a “miracle worker” for his peacemaking in the Middle East, pursuit of détente with the Soviet Union, … Read the article
Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that employed three generations of Arsenault’s family. The mill, while providing livelihoods for … Read the article
It’s a well-known fact that cats and writers share a special bond.
As the American author, Andre Norton (1912-2005) said, “Perhaps it is because cats do not live by human patterns, do not fit themselves into prescribed … Read the article
When the swirling crosscurrents of music and politics collide, a powerful social maelstrom is often left in its wake. In 1969, American rock ‘n’ roll staggered towards the end of an era which the literary critic … Read the article
As the 1800 presidential election neared, Americans braced themselves. The Federalists, who dominated the presidency and both chambers of Congress, had become convinced that the Republicans, who functioned as the emerging opposition party, … Read the article
Few people have made decisions as momentous as Eisenhower, nor has one person had to make such a varied range of them. From D-Day to the Red Scare to the Missile Gap controversies, Ike was able to … Read the article
In 1714, the gardener and caretaker Edmund Howard supervised his employer’s move to a new home. It was an exhausting endeavor, and anyone who has stared into an overfull cardboard box at four in the morning on … Read the article