Misguided Enlightenment ideas of progress lie behind the opposition to Israel by today’s progressives, says Richard Samuelson in Law & Liberty.
Victor Davis Hanson corrects the record about World War II.
There was a brief blossoming of women literati in China in the 1920s and 1930s. Megan Yao describes what happened to it on humanprogress.com.
Did the decline of Christianity in the U.S. pave the way for socialism? Roger McGrath suggests that in an article in Chronicles.
If you like sports, you might like to learn how past U.S. presidents kept fit. Bennett Kleinman tells you about them in History Facts.
Why did the U.S. drop a second atom bomb? Sarah Pruitt of History.com explains the role it played in sending a message to Stalin. (The article is an updated version of a 2017 article.)
About 5,000 black soldiers from North Carolina served in the Union Army; one black regiment helped the Union take over Wilmington, the last remaining Confederate port. I (Jane Stroup) write about it in the Carolina Journal.
Is competition between the United States and China “eerily similar to the origins of World War I”? Ramon Bellin thinks so, writing in Law & Liberty.
Fifty Famous Assassinations
Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary. In a reprise of an amazing past article, the BBC’s History Extra lists and discusses 50 assassinations that “resonated around the world.” (This image of Leon Trotsky is in the public domain. The Russian revolutionary, ousted by Stalin, was killed in exile in 1940.)
Current views about races have their roots in 17th-century concepts of “polygenism,” says Jacob Zellmer . He discusses the strange evolution of these ideas in Aeon.
Learn about major heat waves since 1858. Jennie Cohen describes the big ones in the U.S. and Europe.
Restrictive covenants are back : The Chicago school system is selling excess property but requiring the deed to include a statement that it won’t be used for a “K-12 charter school.” John F. Harnes discusses such covenants in his RealClearHistory article, “How Chicago Has Revived Its Legacy of Jim Crow.”
Yes, History and Fantasy Can Be Mixed
Mountain Folk, the first in John Hood’s series about the early United States.On his blog, author John Hood discusses past examples of mixing history and folklore. He says doing so isMountain Folk: “Sounds crazy — but it works!”
Why did Napoleon lose the Battle of Waterloo? To Graeme Callister, the surprise is how the brave but “makeshift” French army came as close to winning as it did. In War on the Rocks.
Lessons from the American Indian Experience
Image of Osage Indian woman and child, courtesy of DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. Paul Gottlieb considers the tragedy of the American natives and their cultures, and finds lessons for current American culture. On Chronicles.
History amateurs rediscover a long-lost Tudor palace in Collyweston, England, reports Megan Specia in the New York Times.
Egyptians were trailblazers in medicine, writes Jesse Greenspan in Inside History. Even the Greek poet Homer acknowledged their advances.
Yes, North Carolina has May 20, 1775, on its flag. But it may all be a big misunderstanding—even a hoax. I explain in the Carolina Journal.
In 1854, Pr esident Franklin Pierce vetoed the use of federal land to raise money for social welfare. A wise and courageous decision, says Lawrence Reed on the FEE website.
Could Beethoven’s deafness have been caused by cheap wine?
Bust of Beethoven on Wakefield (U.K.) Opera House. Image by Tim Green, licensed by Creative Commons SA BY 2.0. New DNA analysis suggests it may have, Gina Kolata explains in the New York Times.
A new book by Evan Osborne describes the surprising history of economic liberalism in China. Sam Gregg reviews Markets with Chinese Characteristics on Law & Liberty.
Previously unknown art has been discovered at the ruins of Pompeii, in a banquet hall with scenes illustrating the Trojan War, Reuters reports in the Jerusalem Post.
Scene from Pompei ruins, taken by Lyn Gatel y and licensed under CC BY 2.0.
