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
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
In The Age of Illusions, Andrew J. Bacevich presents a thought-provoking and penetrating account of the post-Cold war follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump. Read on for an excerpt.
The following is an excerpt from The Great Rift by James Mann, a sweeping history of the intertwined careers of Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, whose rivalry and conflicting views of U.S. national security color our political … Read the article
Updated for 2019 with a new foreword from the author, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is an extraordinary and insightful biography of the former president. This book traces the 36th president’s life … Read the article
How did we get to this point—where a large portion of our people in the prime of their lives are stuck in a sad sort of limbo, ordering pizza on cell phones while streaming Netflix from their parents’ … Read the article
Thomas Jefferson’s name is most commonly associated in American popular culture with what we now call “democracy,” which Jefferson’s friend and collaborator James Madison called “republicanism”: government by elected officials. Abundant evidence supports that Jefferson … Read the article
In 1959 JFK stood as a youthful political leader, with an allure more akin to that of a movie star or popular singer at the forefront of a movement to overcome a crisis of masculinity in postwar … Read the article
In the crisis of masculinity that preoccupied so many in late 1950s America, a few beacons of hope pierced the gloominess. Cosmopolitan, in its 1957 special issue examining the conundrums of the modern American male, included a … Read the article
It’s May 13, 1940. Winston Churchill has been prime minister of the United Kingdom for three days. This is his first speech to the House of Commons as the nation’s leader. It is also day four of … Read the article