George Washington portrait

What Is Presidents’ Day Actually About?

For most of American history, Washington's Birthday was a really big deal, but, as scholar Barry Schwartz explains, that's changed a lot since the middle of the twentieth century.
Woodrow and Edith Wilson

Could the Twenty-Fifth Amendment Spark a National Crisis?

One scholar's opinion: the Twenty-Fifth Amendment is a Pandora's Box.
Karl Marx

How the American Civil War Shaped Marxism

Although Karl Marx never saw the U.S., he thought long and hard about how it fit into his theory, especially during the Civil War.
Martin Shkreli

Is a Fair Trial Possible in the Age of Social Media?

Is it possible to have a fair trial or an impartial jury in an age when anyone is just a viral tweet or a Facebook search away?
Roosevelt Family 1903

Alice Roosevelt: The Original First Kid

Alice Roosevelt set the tone for a more public first kid and laid the foundation for post-White-House activism like Chelsea Clinton’s.
Macron, Trudeau, Trump

How Charisma Makes Leaders Great

It's easy to write off charisma as a superficial quality. Yet, studies have proven that charisma is in fact an integral element of good leadership.
Unite the Right flags

White Supremacists and the Rhetoric of “Tyranny”

White supremacists have declared themselves in danger of losing essential rights. It's the kind of argument racists have been making for a long time.
Obama state of the union 2011

Barack Obama and the Nommo Tradition of Afrocentric Orality

A scholar analyzes two of Barack Obama's commencement speeches, using West African nommo oratory as a guide.
NYC intersection

“Jay Walking” and the Fight for the Streets

Debates over the priorities of cars, public transit and "jay walking" are nothing new. There has long been a story class buried within the disagreements.
Dressmaker strike

Does Disunity Hurt the Left?

Does disunity harm a political party? An account of the organizing by unemployed workers in the 1930s may offer some clues.