History

Aggregated news feed for history lovers.

An Archive of Anticolonialism and State Surveillance: Tracing Early South Asian American History

In September 2012 in Stockton, California, the gurdwara, a house of worship for people of the Sikh faith, commemorated its one-hundred-year anniversary with the opening of the Sikh History Museum, Library, and Heritage Center. On display in the museum was the...

Men on White Horses

by Susan Ronald There’s a chapter in my new book, Hitler’s Aristocrats, titled “Men on White Horses” which I feared might be cut by my commissioning editor. Why? Well, strictly speaking, these men were not fascists in the meaning of … Read the article The post Men on...

5 Books to Celebrate Women’s History Month

by The History Reader Women’s History Month is a time for us to take a moment to appreciate all the incredible achievements of women across the globe. This month, we’re highlighting five remarkable books coming out this year about a … Read the article The post 5 Books...

Men on White Horses

by Susan Ronald There’s a chapter in my new book, Hitler’s Aristocrats, titled “Men on White Horses” which I feared might be cut by my commissioning editor. Why? Well, strictly speaking, these men were not fascists in the meaning of … Read the article The post Men on...

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5 Books to Celebrate Women’s History Month

by The History Reader Women’s History Month is a time for us to take a moment to appreciate all the incredible achievements of women across the globe. This month, we’re highlighting five remarkable books coming out this year about a … Read the article The post 5 Books...

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What Africatown Owes to the Harlem Renaissance

by Nick Tabor It’s hard to believe that when Zora Neale Hurston started on her book Barracoon, which would turn out to be one of the greatest achievements of her illustrious career, she was still an undergraduate student. She had … Read the article The post What...

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A Secret Agent’s Pride

by John Lisle The Dirty Tricks Department by John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch and its role in World War II. Their inventions included bat bombs, suicide pills, fighting knives, silent pistols, and … Read the article The...

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To the Shores of Tripoli

by Tom Clavin When one thinks of America’s early naval heroes, John Paul Jones and Oliver Hazard Perry usually come to mind. But another was Stephen Decatur, who achieved not just national, but international fame for his actions in 1804. … Read the article The post To...

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Flying Into Hell

During WWII, Frank Murphy flew twenty-one daylight combat missions with the Mighty Eighth. The odds of returning safely were three to one against. Below is an excerpt from his memoir, Luck of the Draw, in which Frank recounts the harrowing … Read the article The post...

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Africatown and the Last Slave Ship

by Nick Tabor Nick Tabor’s Africatown charts the fraught history of America from those who were brought here as slaves but nevertheless established a home for themselves and their descendants, a community which often thrived despite persistent racism and environmental...

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A Connecticut Yankee In Texas

by Tom Clavin This year is the bicentennial of the Texas Rangers, who played a significant role in the bigger picture of what in the 1800s was viewed as law and order on the frontier. The initial Rangers “call to … Read the article The post A Connecticut Yankee In...

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Richard Wright’s Civil War Cipher

Grandpa “darkly boasted of having killed ‘mo’n mah fair share of them damn rebels’ while en route to enlist in the Union Army,” Richard Wright recalled.  “Granny’s conversations…[about]Grandpa’s life,” gave the novelist further details of the...

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The Lost Love Letters of Teddy Roosevelt

by Mary Calvi “Love at first sight,” a Harvard College student writes in his private journals. “I have never… gone to sleep or waked up without thinking of her; and I doubt if an hour has passed that I have … Read the article The post The Lost Love Letters of Teddy...

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2023 JAH African American History Index

In honor of Black History Month, we at the Journal of American History are pleased to re-release the JAH African American History Index. First published in 2019, the index includes every article of African American history we have ever printed, from our inception...

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The First President

by Tom Clavin This month, 234 years ago, the first Electoral College voted to elect George Washington as president of the United States. Yes, the first presidential election was (or more accurately, began) in February, not November, and it was … Read the article The...

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Agony Aunts: A Brief History of a Unique Profession

by Anastasia Hastings Novelist Anastasia Hastings, author of the recently released mystery Of Manners and Murder, delves into the history of Agony Aunts, a unique profession dating back to the 17th century. Read more below. In America, we call them … Read the article...

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