What Frederick Douglass tells us about today
Frederick Douglass was one of the great people’s leaders of the 19th century. And yet his towering intellect and multifaceted political experience have been insufficiently appreciated.
The real Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday
In 1984 Ronald Reagan proclaimed it was "Morning in America." But many of us knew that in reality he was ramrodding wage-cut policies that busted unions, undermined New Deal programs, and deregulated the banks and corporations.
On lessons of New Deal, GOP fails miserably
The New Deal economic recovery programs during the Great Depression of the 1930s showed how to solve economic crises without resorting to war.
Coming to terms with the Confederacy
Some groups want to remember the Confederacy "the right way." Whatever can they mean?
"Made in Dagenham": feisty women who know how to fight
The best scene in the new British film, "Made in Dagenham," comes when a reporter asks Mrs O'Grady how her band of strikers will be able to cope. "We're women!" she explains pointedly.
Richard Nixon’s tapes and the psychology of division
New tapes from the Nixon White House show Nixon's pathologic prejudices against virtually every ethnic group, particularly his crude anti-Semitism.
Exploding tea party myths about American history
Jill Lepore's "The Whites of Their Eyes" is two distinct histories in the space of a single volume.
Springtime for Franco and Pope Benedict
In Spain recently, Pope Benedict made remarks that boil down to an outrageous defense of the 40-year fascist dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.
“Secession balls” in 2010?
There were two stories about the beginnings of the Civil War this week: Georgia acknowledges slavery, while neo-Confederates ignore it.
2010 elections continue 1960s battles
This election and the rage connected to it (racist and anti-immigrant especially) are traceable to the 1960s and the right-wing class warfare that followed.
