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Peter Feuerherd

Peter Feuerherd

Peter Feuerherd is a professor of journalism at St. John’s University in New York and a correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.

John Quincy Adams
Politics & Government

What Do Ex-Presidents Do? Ask John Quincy Adams.

Many are speculating about what former president Barack Obama will do in his retirement. Perhaps he will stay as politically involved as John Quincy Adams.
Articles of Confederation
Politics & Government

The Constitution Most Americans Have Forgotten About

The Articles of Confederation set off the long-running feud between states' rights and Washington, a debate that still rages today.
Dresden Germany after firebombing
Arts & Culture

How Slaughterhouse-Five Made Us See the Dresden Bombing Differently

The bombing of Dresden, Germany, which began February 13, 1945, was once viewed as a historical footnote. Until Slaughterhouse-Five was published.
Missing poster for Charles Lindbergh, Jr.
Politics & History

The Sensationalist Trial of the Century

When Charles Lindbergh became the first to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927, the smiling visage of the ...
Photograph: President Barack Obama, Ruby Bridges, and representatives of the Norman Rockwell Museum view Rockwell’s "The Problem We All Live With," hanging in a West Wing hallway near the Oval Office, July 15, 2011. Ruby Bridges is the girl in the painting. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.  Source: https://flic.kr/p/a41wAb
Arts & Culture

Norman Rockwell: Provocative Artist or Predictable Hack?

While Norman Rockwell's paintings struck a chord with the mass American public, that was not always not the case with art critics.
James Joyce
Arts & Culture

James Joyce, Catholic Writer?

James Joyce remains a novelist whose characters are imbued with a Catholic world view, despite declaring himself to be a freethinking heretic.
Jackie Robinson
Politics & History

Jackie Robinson vs Paul Robeson: A Double Play for the Ages

In 1949, Jackie Robinson testified in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee against Paul Robeson.
Benedict Arnold
Politics & History

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.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
Politics & History

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.
LBJ and Civil Rights Leaders
Politics & History

How Great Was the Great Society?

Lyndon B. Johnson called upon the wealthiest nation in the world to do something for those left behind.
Rosa Parks on bus
Politics & History

Rosa Parks and the Power of Oneness

Rosa Parks shook the world of Jim Crow by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on her way home from work.
The Simpsons
Arts & Culture

“The Simpsons”: More Than Just a Cartoon

"The Simpsons" is the longest-running scripted series in television history, full of canny satire and the occasional prophecy.
Abraham Lincoln inauguration, 1861
Politics & Government

The Most Contentious Presidential Transition in American History

Was Abraham Lincoln's the most tumultuous presidential transition in American history?
Jim Jones
Education & Society

Drinking the Kool-Aid at Jonestown

Did you drink the Kool-Aid? The phrase has become such a part of the vocabulary that for many its origins have been obscured.
Harpers Ferry illustration
Arts & Culture

John Brown: Feared Fanatic or Freedom Fighter?

Murderous terrorist fanatic or freedom fighter? No figure in American history raises that question more than John Brown.
9/11 memorial, New York
Politics & History

The Shrines of September 11th

In the immediate aftermath of September 11th, impromptu shrines appeared.
Harvard-Michigan football game
Education & Society

How Teddy Roosevelt Changed Football

Is football too violent? It's a problem Teddy Roosevelt once tried to solve from the White House.
A map of Mexican territories in 1835
Politics & History

When Mexico Was Flooded By Immigrants

In the early nineteenth-century, Mexico had a problem with American immigrants.
Love Park skaters
Education & Society

Skateboarders: The Shock Troops of Gentrification

In Philadelphia's Love Park, gentrification had an unlikely face.
Jefferson and Adams
Politics & Government

The First Ugly Election: America, 1800

The 1800 election saw America's first contested presidential campaigns: Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the first half of Game 2 of basketball's NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 5, 2016. (Ezra Shaw, Getty Images via AP, Pool)
Education & Society

Curry v. James: Superstar Culture in the NBA

A casual viewer of the NBA finals might be led to believe the event is really a showdown between Stephen Curry and LeBron James.

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