history

Alan Jacobs on Andrew Delbanco’s ‘The War Before the War,’ the horrors of the fugitive slave laws, and the costs of union.

Sophia Buono on the searching, spiritual journey of Elizabeth Seton, the first American-born Catholic saint.

Algis Valiunas on the longing that defined Napoleon, man of action.

Paula Deitz on how a New York physician planted the seeds of American medical botany.

Gary Saul Morson on the literary legacy of 19th-century Russian revolutionary terrorism.

The Roman Republic didn’t end all at once. As Ian Lindquist explains, its decline began with an earlier erosion of political norms.

Lessons of fidelity to something greater than a ruler.

James M. Banner Jr. reviews Joanne B. Freeman’s book on violence and bloodshed in the antebellum Congress.

Jay Weiser on the forgotten industrialist who led the great silver rush.

Tim Markatos on the challenges of bringing Joan of Arc’s story to the screen.

Plus, we snagged a telephone scammer.

What we can learn about modern Russia from a century-old massacre.

Did the Duke of Buckingham conspire to kill King James I?

President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 in part on a pledge to “drain the swamp,” to eliminate the corruption that many Americans have come to believe dominates our politics. Here, Hillary Clinton served as a perfect foil, a stand-in for all the politicians who have gone to Washington to do good…

It’s fitting that Sen. Elizabeth Warren should have chosen the Center for American Progress’s ideas conference to declare, as she did last week, that “democracy is crumbling around us.” For the death knell of democracy is one of her party’s oldest ideas, a staple of progressive nightmares from…

Euler’s identity: Genius, discovery, elegance.

Let it be said at the outset that James Lewis's The Burr Conspiracy is a superb work of contemporary historical craftsmanship. The question for everyone interested in its subject is how to understand it.

"Are you a missionary?" one of my fellow passengers asked. It was a pretty smart bet. We were bumping along on a bus ride south from Ciudad Juarez, and I was headed to Nueva Casas Grandes, a tiny town that looks big in comparison to its neighbors Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, the last two…

Suppose, for a moment, that you are a young person with no more knowledge of what the world was like before you were born than most young people nowadays. And suppose, further, that out of idle curiosity you took it into your head to read a really old book like, say, Edith Wharton’s The Age of…

Since the birth of the modern age, conservatives of various stripes have lamented—often with good reason—the cultural decline of post-Enlightenment society. Such critiques have emphasized different defects: the shrinking of human beings to mere seekers of comfort; the loss of reverence for…

The Herbert Hoover of historical memory is a distant person, mostly recalled as the president who presided ineffectually over the early years of the Great Depression. Kenneth Whyte’s fine full-life biography reminds us that Hoover was himself a man of action and a remarkable American success story.…

Most every day I walk by the Granary Burying Ground in Boston, past the graves of the “victims of the Boston Massacre” and find myself musing on the events of March 5, 1770. On that cold, otherwise calm moonlit night, musket fire erupted in King Street. Three men were killed immediately. Two died…

Judge Frederic Block, meet Judge H. Lee Sarokin.

In 1898, when the 42-year-old George Bernard Shaw stepped down as drama critic of London’s Saturday Review, he introduced his successor, Max Beerbohm, 26, with these words: “The younger generation is knocking at the door, and as I open it there steps sprightly in the incomparable Max.”

'Do you know," Thomas Jefferson wrote tantalizingly to John Adams in the summer of 1815, “that there exists in manuscript the ablest work of this kind ever yet executed, of the debates of the constitutional convention of Philadelphia?” Unfortunately for him, Adams never had occasion to read these…

Federalist 68, by Alexander Hamilton, is not much read today. It consists of a defense of the original Electoral College in which the electors, chosen by the people, would assemble in each state and deliberate on their choice for president. This version of the Electoral College never really took…

Journalists like anniversaries, or at least this one does, and 2018 is an ideal vantage point from which to survey the past. It’s been a half-century now since the annus horribilis of 1968, for example, and a century-and-a-half since my favorite president (James Buchanan) died. But more to the…

For better or worse (mostly worse), Donald Trump was 2016’s person of the year. For better or worse (almost entirely for the better), 2017’s person of the year has to be Publius.

Hans Keilson was not quite 23 years old when, in December 1932, he came home from his hospital job to news from his mother. “Someone named Loerke called,” she said. “He called to congratulate us. He’s going to recommend your novel for publication.” The call had been from the poet Oskar Loerke, on…

In a March 2016 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, Donald Trump declared that if he became president, he would “move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.” His choice of phrase—“eternal capital”—perhaps bears some…

Frank Bruni had an interesting column the other day in the New York Times. Naturally, it was about Donald Trump, and naturally, it registered disapproval. But the point was more psychiatric than political: Entitled “Donald Trump Could Really Use a Friend,” it assembled a host of testimonials to…

The occasion of Murray Kempton’s centenary​—​he was born December 16, 1917—​has attracted little attention. As a columnist for the New York Post and later Newsday he wrote more about New York than Washington or national politics, but one had a right to expect a biography or maybe a few essays or a…

We might as well go ahead and admit it: There are moments when it seems as though The Scrapbook and the New York Times inhabit different universes. This happens with increasing frequency—and not just when we confront those blast-furnace editorials or the rank opinionizing in its news columns. The…

This is a day of mourning for Americans who believe that our politics are broken, who yearn to reach across the aisle, stop the partisan bickering, and eradicate the influence of money, Big Business, the military, corporate media, parochial interests, anti-tax activists, the NRA, the AMA, the CIA,…

I was in New England for a few days last week and found myself at breakfast one morning with a group of Armenian academics, born in Lebanon but now settled permanently in and around Boston. By any measure, they were a distinguished group—historians, physicians, political scientists—and for them, of…

We can speak of “settled law.” Not so with biography. The verdict is always out on appeal, and the subject accountable to more litigation. Discovery yields new evidence, and additional litigants take up the case. This is especially so with Ulysses S. Grant.

Robert Skidelsky, whose biography of John Maynard Keynes is unlikely ever to be surpassed, judged that his subject “never needed a Jehovah, because he had never experienced despair.” Skidelsky was speaking of religion and morals, a department where Keynes was a typical Bloomsbury hedonist. In…

The Berkshire Museum, a venerable, century-old museum of art and history in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is making enormous changes to its dowdy displays. Two years of planning, 22 focus groups (uh-oh), and two multimillion-dollar fundraising drives have yielded a “New Vision,” described as a bold,…

In the world of art, Johannes Vermeer is a name to conjure with, and any exhibition of his work qualifies as a blockbuster. For the first time since 1996, a major exhibition of Vermeer and his contemporaries is coming to the National Gallery of Art. Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting debuted…

For their latest collaboration, a 10-part documentary that premiered last month on PBS, filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have chosen a subject from living memory. The Vietnam war was a defining event for a generation of Americans. It was also one of the most politically divisive wars in U.S.…

Before Jack Henry Abbott, there was Edgar Smith.

Before Jack Henry Abbott, there was Edgar Smith.

What does it do to casually assumed theories of cultural equality if a civilization is founded on the idea that the gods require the ritualized butchering of human beings? When Mel Gibson released his twilight-of-the-Maya epic Apocalypto in 2006, some scholars of Mayan culture felt that the film’s…

For those of us who wish (or hope) that Donald Trump may ultimately settle into something resembling a conventional president, his ex-chief strategist Stephen Bannon offered a glimmer of encouragement last week.

For those of us who wish (or hope) that Donald Trump may ultimately settle into something resembling a conventional president, his ex-chief strategist Stephen Bannon offered a glimmer of encouragement last week.

To one who spends time in the archives of the first quarter-century of the American republic can avoid references to one Jonathan Robbins. Probably in reality the Irish tar Thomas Nash, the pseudonymous Robbins scarcely ranks up there with other major figures of the period. But then why is his name…

It would be nice, in a way, to be a progressive. You’d be confident you know the direction History is moving. And you’d have faith that the direction in which History is moving is the direction in which History should be moving.

It would be nice, in a way, to be a progressive. You’d be confident you know the direction History is moving. And you’d have faith that the direction in which History is moving is the direction in which History should be moving.

A little over two years ago, The Scrapbook was pleased to welcome a new work of history from Philip F. Anschutz, chairman and CEO of The Weekly Standard’s parent company. In The Scrapbook’s words, Out Where the West Begins profiled “an astonishing variety of business entrepreneurs, visionaries,…

Today on the Daily Standard podcast, RealClearPolitics Washington editor Carl Cannon comes by to talk about his new book "On This Date," a calendar of significant events in American history.

When the novelist and essayist Mary McCarthy died in 1989 many observers called her the foremost American woman of letters. In the past quarter of a century, McCarthy’s writing has faded from sight, but she may be making a comeback, for the Library of America recently published a two-volume edition…

I'm fascinated by the photograph of the Beatles in the open gatefold of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released 50 years ago today. From left to right sit Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, clad in colorful psychedelic military garb against a yellow…

Ever since the founding, the people of the United States have been particularly interested in their own history. The first collected edition of the Federalist Papers was published shortly after the originals were first printed. In the early days of the republic, newspapers would print transcripts…

The current issue of the New Yorker has an article by staff writer Adam Gopnik, who spent part of his childhood up north, titled, "We Could Have Been Canada: Was the American Revolution such a good idea?" The notion that liberals hate America is an intellectually lazy ad hominem attack indulged by…

In 1970, in a review of Kenneth Clark’s Civilization, John Russell, art critic of the New York Times, grandly prophesied that "the civilization that Clark describes is one which has had its day and will not be seen again." In acknowledging the learned brio with which Clark came to the defense of…

To hear New York Times correspondent Eric Schmitt tell it, his FBI sources are dishing confidential information from their investigations of Donald Trump's team out of selfless concern for the country. "Many of them are taking risks in order to confirm information that they feel is important for…

Why do orchids have such a fascinating grip on the popular imagination? There are poems, songs, and perfumes dedicated to roses, and famous paintings showcase sunflowers and water lilies. But no other flower has inspired the range of myth and symbolism as the orchid. According to Jim Endersby, the…

Among Frederick Douglass's many indispensable roles in American society—that of abolitionist, reformer, and statesman—was educator. Learning was his hope and inspiration, opposite qualities of what made a "contented slave". To make one, he wrote, "It is necessary to darken his moral and mental…

During the 1952 campaign, Dwight Eisenhower boldly announced that if he won the presidency, "I shall go to Korea." He believed he could broker peace in the Korean conflict, which had reached a stalemate under Harry Truman. About two months before he took office, Ike flew to Korea on a visit that…

During the 1952 campaign, Dwight Eisenhower boldly announced that if he won the presidency, “I shall go to Korea." He believed he could broker peace in the Korean conflict, which had reached a stalemate under Harry Truman. About two months before he took office, Ike flew to Korea on a visit that…

You never can tell about Senate confirmation.

On Sunday, January 8, an editorial in The Guardian pointed out correctly, “whatever else there is to say about Russia's alleged involvement in the 2016 US election, do not make the mistake of saying that such a thing is unprecedented—because it is not." Indeed, anyone who thinks there is no…

One of the most interesting figures in the bible is King Hezekiah—reformer, builder, and entirely historical, attested to in a passel of extra-biblical sources. New sources have been excavated over the last few weeks.

If you've ever been to Paris, you've likely seen the church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois; it's directly across the street from the east end of the Louvre. Surprisingly, despite its central locations, it's off the tourists' beaten path; it's too close to the much more famous Notre Dame Cathedral and…

Eighty years is a lot of history. In the latest addition to the Penguin History of the United States series, A Nation Without Borders: The United States and Its World in an Age of Civil Wars, 1830-1910, Steven Hahn writes about the eight decades from 1830 to 1910 in a brisk and thought-provoking…

Quinnipiac University released several swing state polls on Monday that were, on balance, good news for Hillary Clinton. She had leads in Florida, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—which suggests a fairly comfortable Electoral College win. Yet Donald Trump was shown with a five-percentage point lead…

Ulysses S. Grant has been the subject of scores of biographies, but his character has long remained elusive to historians. Even Grant's closest friends found him hard to figure. General William T. Sherman noted that, despite having known Grant for decades, "to me he is a mystery, and I believe he…

Rising From the Plains, John McPhee's third installment in his multi-volume geological history of the United States Annals of the Former World, tells the story of Wyoming: its birth on the supercontinent Pangea, its arrival in North America, the growth of its mountains, the source of its fossils…

History will not end on November 8, 2016. The next day, the party that loses will pick itself up, dust itself off, and try again—in just 24 short months. That's how politics in a democratic republic works. While claiming that the Battle of Armageddon is upon us helps gin up turnout every two years,…

During Tuesday's WEEKLY STANDARD podcast, I made a point that requires some amplification. The polls consistently show that the vast majority of voters—about 130 million in total—do not like either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, who were selected by just over 30 million people. There must be…

Athens

At this late hour, there is a chance—admittedly a very slim one—that Donald Trump might wish to avoid a catastrophic loss to Hillary Clinton, or that Republican leaders might petition him to step aside as their nominee. There is time enough yet for such a thing to happen, and there is a remote—a…

It was the summer of 1832, and the two great Whig senators, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, had come across a brilliant plan to embarrass and damage the Democratic president, Andrew Jackson, just before the election. The Second Bank of the United States, hated by agrarians and Jacksonians, but much…

On this date 50 years ago, Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old ex-Marine and engineering student, climbed to the observation deck of the Tower at the University of Texas in Austin and shot 49 people, killing 14. Earlier in the day he had stabbed his wife and mother to death; Whitman himself was shot and…

As the sun rose over the valley of the Somme River in northern France on the first of July a century ago, the soldiers of the British Empire began their charge on the entrenched Germans. It would be the deadliest day—and the start of the deadliest battle—in British history.

When he was 13, but more man than boy, Andrew Jackson got his first taste of war, helping his mother tend to the casualties after the Battle of Waxhaws. The May 1780 battle became, in legend, a massacre of defenseless colonials by British redcoats under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Banastre…

New Haven, Conn.

For a man who delved into the lives of others, not all that much is known about the life of Cornelius Tacitus, historian of Rome under the empire. He was born in 56 or 57 a.d. and is thought to have died around 125 a.d. His family came from Narbonensis (the modern Provence), or possibly from…

Coming up on his final year in office, the president’s mind is doubtless on his legacy. More, perhaps, than other presidents had been when they were running out the string. Obama is something of a literary man, after all, having published a best-selling memoir before his election.  He is accustomed…

From Hong Kong to Harvard, erasing history has become a necessity. In the Chinese territory, it is the authorities in Beijing who want to eliminate any memory of the past; in Harvard Square, it is the Law School students. In Hong Kong, memories of its colonial past cannot be missed: the harbor and…

Hillary Clinton believes she's the most transparent person in American history. The Democratic presidential candidate made the claim in a town hall this morning, hosted by NBC's Today Show:

Well, one minor mystery of the American presidency was clarified this week.

Of the making of books, there is no end. Thus spake the prophet, and he may have had books about the American Civil War in mind. They come too fast for the amateur to keep up, but one does try. So when I saw, a couple of months ago, that James McPherson was out with a new collection called The War…

Professor of history emeritus at Brown, National Humanities Medalist, and WEEKLY STANDARD contributor, Gordon S. Wood, here discusses his latest books, The American Revolution: Writings from the Pamphlet Debate (Volume I, and II), both published by the Library of America.

The latest episode of Conversations With Bill Kristol, featuring Donald Kagan:

The boss marks the D-Day anniversary with Ronald Reagan's words (and more!):

Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Robert E. Rubin co-wrote an article for the June issue of The Atlantic titled (in the print edition), “The Blame Trap,” and subtitled, “Why the U.S. and China need to act on each other’s economic critiques.”

At this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Obama’s comic routine seemed to have some nasty implications about his political opponents. After reviewing the speech in depth, Byron York reads this between the lines:

President Obama, speaking today in Selma on the 50th anniversary of the historical Bloody Sunday march:

President Obama used part of his address at the 50th anniversary of the historic march to push expanded voting laws.

It is said that history is written by the victors. Maybe so, but in the United States over the last century, history has largely been written by the liberals. This inevitably leads to bias, which inevitably operates on even the most impartial of minds. While most historians try to be fair and…

Benjamin Netanyahu is not the first Israeli prime minister to find himself at odds with Washington. In fact, several prime ministers from the Labor Party, Netanyahu's traditional rival, have suffered the wrath of an angry American president.

Sir Martin’s passing was a sad day for who call ourselves Churchillians. His 8-volume biography of Sir Winston Churchill and the Companion volumes are the Everest of all biographies, and an indispensable source for anyone interested in the great man’s life and achievements. That this quiet,…

The passing of Sir Martin Gilbert at the age of 78 marked a sad milestone. He achieved popular acclaim as the official biographer of Winston Churchill, the man whose in-depth eight-volume biography served as the gold standard reference work about the greatest statesman of the twentieth century. He…

Speaking at a Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors event last night, Hillary Clinton decided to talk about Alexis de Tocqueville. The problem? She got it wrong -- by about a hundred years.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD Casual Podcast, with Philip Terzian reading his casual essay "Guided Torture."

The United States entered the Great War with its eyes wide open. The mechanical slaughter in Europe had already left millions dead. In the trenches, men had to contend with lice, rats, sickness, mud, extreme temperatures, human waste, rotting corpses, and boredom as well as the threats of poison…

Martin Kramer, writing for Mosaic:

The death of Fouad Ajami this weekend, at the age of 68, deprived this country and the world of a uniquely powerful voice – one that is at the same time both Arab and American – that could have helped guide us, as he has in the past, through the hazards and complications of his native Middle East.  

T.S. Eliot thought that the first requisite for being a literary critic is to be very intelligent. The second, I should say, is to have a well-stocked mind, which means having knowledge of literatures and literary traditions other than that into which one was born; possessing several languages; and…

During a celebration of African-American History Month, Vice President Joe Biden said, "I may be a white boy, but I can jump." The comments were made at Biden's home, the Naval Observatory.

Mr. Vladimir Putin intends that the current Olympic games be forever stamped with his glory.  Sochi is being protected by a “Ring of Steel.”  Thus has spoken Russia’s current Man of Steel, who sees himself as the rightful descendant of the original, although Mr. Putin’s bared breasts on such…

President Obama traveled to Wisconsin yesterday and engaged in a tasteless bit of anti-intellectualism. “A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career,” he told an audience in Waukesha, “but I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with…

Ariel Sharon—a man whose deeds as soldier, general, cabinet minister, and prime minister were decisive in the history of modern Israel, a soldier-statesman of true historical significance, a larger-than-life figure whose like we're unlikely to see again—dies, and Barack Obama issues a statement…

Two hundred and forty years ago this month, a gang of Bostonians dressed as Indians boarded the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor. That fateful action on December 16, 1773, and Parliament’s inflammatory response—closing the Port of Boston,…

At  the start of last month’s government shutdown, a mostly overlooked message emanated from the Twitter account of Michelle Obama, informing her followers: “Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, updates to this account will be limited.” The conventions of American…

There is a genre of books about politics written by ideologues on both sides of the divide. Their aim is to inform their fellow partisans about the misinformation, misdeeds, and malign intentions of the people on the other side, offering talking points to rally the troops for the next…

In the six presidential elections between 1992 and 2012, the Democratic party has regained the solid popular vote majority it enjoyed during the New Deal/Great Society era (1932-64) but relinquished in the six elections between 1968 and 1988.

Henry IX is one of the most interesting monarchs Britain never had.

As we mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the publication of Allen Guelzo’s magisterial new account of that conflict is most timely. But given the fact that, by even the most conservative estimates, some 60,000 books and pamphlets have been written about what was once called the War of the…

The Third Reich hovers over German history.   

What is strategy, after all? The public talks about war as if it were a game of chess or Risk or Sid Meier’s Civilization. But the real meaning of strategy, as opposed to tactics, is the capacity to determine what to do in a world without guidelines, not how to optimize resources toward…

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, portraying the president’s battle to abolish slavery at the end of the Civil War, illustrates one of the fundamental paradoxes inherent in constitutional democracy: that sometimes high principle can be vindicated only through low politicking. In the last week, myriad…

His contemporaries called him “the Little Giant.” They recognized that although Stephen A. Douglas was physically a pipsqueak—standing only 5-foot-4, small even for his generation—he loomed over American political life through his intensity, intelligence, and energy. Unfortunately for his…

The official Twitter account of the United States Army sent out a message to its more than 186,000 followers recognizing the 47th anniversary of the "first public burning of a draft card." Here's the tweet:

Sally Bedell Smith has a thing for kings. Or, not kings quite so much as powerful people who form courts around themselves as a function of power or wealth. Her very best books all describe these arrangements: In All His Glory, about the CBS mogul William Paley; Grace and Power, about the Kennedy…

The selection of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as the Republican vice presidential nominee continues an odd and indeed unprecedented pattern so far in the 21st century. Seven of the eight major party vice presidential candidates have been the first people from their home states to be major party…

Sharpsburg, Md.

Last night, Vice President Joe Biden told a Seattle audience that "Only 13 people in American history have ever served as long" he served in the Senate, according to a pool report from the event. It is a line he has used before. "I’ve served longer in the Senate, I’m almost embarrassed to…

Today, President Obama said, “It has typically taken countries up to ten years to recover from financial crises of this magnitude.” In truth, however, the historical norm has been as follows: the deeper the recession, the stronger the recovery. 

Joe Biden, speaking earlier today in North Carolina:

One hundred years ago, on the evening of April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg. A few hours later, on April 15, the great ship went down, taking the lives of 1,514 people.

Talking Points Memo has a good story about President Obama's latest incident of historical illiteracy at a speech where he got both U.S. and world history wrong in the course of lecturing Republicans about being know-nothings. Here’s a sample, from TPM:

Steve Hayes reviews Condoleezza Rice's new book in the Wall Street Journal:

Tomorrow, September 17, is Constitution Day. Aside from being a general observance where we honor new American citizens and the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, federal law mandates that “each educational institution that receives Federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program…

Just to close the loop on President Obama’s claim that GM is “now making a profit for the first time in decades,” reader D.B. sent along GM profit-loss statements from 1990 to 2000. The tally: GM had mounting net losses in 1990, 1991, and 1992. In 1993 they turned things around, posting a net…

Yesterday, President Barack Obama announced his plans to run for reelection in 2012, 582 days before Election Day and before most major Republican opponents officially announced that they'd be entering the race. This is the earliest any incumbent president has officially signed up to run again.

Is it becoming modesty in a city, or just cluelessness, to cede to others the celebration of literary lions bred in that city’s midst?

Among Barbara Tuchman’s many sins as an historian was the notion, propagated in her popular volume The Guns of August (1962), that the Great Powers had more or less blundered into conflict in 1914, and that smarter diplomacy might well have prevented the Great War. So pervasive is the Tuchman…

Among those regions of the country that are culturally self-conscious--northern New England, Southern California, Appalachia--the South has been especially occupied, during the past two centuries, in defining what constitutes its distinctive character. As with any such topic, there is no end of…

Garin Hovannisian is a product of what might be called Armenian-American aristocracy. His great-grandfather Kaspar stood helplessly by while his pregnant mother and infant brother were killed by the Turks in 1915, escaped to Ellis Island in 1920, and built an agricultural/real estate empire in…

Earlier this year, Massachusetts and New York, blaming budget troubles, pulled the plug on their state tests in U.S. history. Given the strident union rhetoric against “high-stakes” testing— America's Federation of Teachers’ Randi Weingarten has accused reformers of turning schools into “Test Prep,…

The Library of America, founded in the late 1970s with initial funding from the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, grew out of an idea of Edmund Wilson’s that there ought to be an American equivalent of the French Pleiade editions, which seek to keep classics in…

Fred Baumann on the German rehearsal for genocide.