Ivanka Trump

De Facto First Ladies: A Definitive Guide

Ivanka Trump will be assuming many duties of the First Lady. She won't be the first presidential daughter to take “the hardest unpaid job in the world.”
Joyce Appleby

Historian Joyce Appleby Remembered

Historian Joyce Appleby, a major contributor to our understanding of early American history, passed away last month. We remember her.
Berkeley mural

The Fight for People’s Park

Fifty years ago, tens of thousands of people converged on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for the “Human ...
Benedict Arnold

How Benedict Arnold Helped Win the Revolution

Some historians think Benedict Arnold's treason may well have aided the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke and the Birth of Traditional Conservatism

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) is one of the philosophical fountainheads of modern conservatism. But he didn't start out that way.
Thames Frost Fair

Magic and Meaning on the Frozen Thames

London's winters used to colder—and a bit more magical, thanks to chilly conditions on the Thames River. "Frost fairs" were popular public celebrations.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense

How Thomas Paine Marketed the Revolution

Thomas Paine's Common Sense presented the case for American independence in a way that spoke to the average person.
Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition logo

Cosmopolitanism (and Racism) at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition celebrated intercultural connections, but also reduced non-white cultures to quaint attractions.
Anne Frank house bookcase

How the Netherlands Used Literature to Defy the Nazis

A new theory sheds light not only on the fate of the Franks, but on the extent of Dutch resistance to the Nazis.
LBJ and Civil Rights Leaders

How Great Was the Great Society?

Lyndon B. Johnson called upon the wealthiest nation in the world to do something for those left behind.