Jesse Wegman believes the Electoral College is “antiquated and anti-democratic,” while Tara Ross calls it “indispensable.” On March 30, presidential historian Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential […]
Amidst troubling times, it is always helpful to look to history for precedent, context, and even guidance. As our society navigates the COVID pandemic, perhaps the most important historical moment for us to look back to is the 1918-19 pandemic. Join us as Dr. Christopher Nichols […]
In the years after the Civil War, the banks, railroads, and industrial corporations of Gilded-Age America, abetted by a corrupt political system, concentrated vast wealth in the hands of the few and made poverty the fate of many. In response, a group of hard-pressed farmers and laborers from Texas organized a movement for […]
The story of how Newt Gingrich and his allies tainted American politics, launching an enduring era of brutal partisan warfare. When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, President Obama observed that Trump "is not an outlier; he is a culmination, a logical conclusion of the rhetoric and tactics of the Republican Party." In Burning […]
A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth […]
.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; […]
The presidential election of 1884, in which Grover Cleveland ended the Democrats' twenty-four-year presidential drought by defeating Republican challenger James G. Blaine, was one of the gaudiest in American […]
Americans’ ideas of their differences from others have shaped the modern world—and how Americans have viewed foreigners is deeply revealing of their assumptions about themselves. Just Like Us is […]
We face the most critical election of our lifetimes. That is often said. This year it seems as true as ever. Political historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer, both of […]
Critical Elections in American History. Is 2020 One? Politicians claim every election is ‘the most important of our lifetime,’ but 2020 feels like it just might be. Yet Americans have faced big choices before. Professor Jeffrey A. Engel will explore the politics and drama of critical votes that seemed to their era unusually important, tracing […]
