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Featured Essays
While Robert Morris is remembered as the "financier of the Revolution," his partner and former boss, Thomas Willing, has been lost to history despite his own contributions to early American business and finance.
Decades before the Ayatollah, even before the shah, early Americans found themselves enchanted with Iranian culture, politics, and history.
By organizing weekly gatherings of political leaders and citizens, she proved democracy works best when rivals see one another as human beings.
William Seward's 1868 attempt to acquire the Danish territory was the country's first, but not the last.
America 250!
With Little Less Than Savage Fury | Fall 2010, Vol 60, No 3
By Thomas B. AllenAmerica’s first civil war took place during the Revolution, an ultra-violent, family-splitting, and often vindictive conflict between "patriots" and loyalists.
An Update on “Save the Glover!” | Spring 2026, Vol 71, No 2
By Nancy L. SchultzEfforts continue to preserve the historic home of General John Glover in Swampscott, Massachusetts, which is still slated for demolition.
Drama on Dorchester Heights: Washington’s First Victory | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Edward J. LarsonThe American patriots came up with a bold plan to force the British out of Boston 250 years ago this month.
America 50: The First Jubilee | , Vol 71, No 3
By Joseph Connor“And so old Mr. Adams is dead; on the 4th of July, too, just half a century after our Declaration of Independence...”
Rethinking the Boston Massacre | Special Issue - George Washington Prize 2018, Vol 63, No 2
By Eric HinderakerIt is one of the most notorious incidents in American history, and also one of the least understood.
Classic Essays from the Archives
A Yankee Among The War Lords | October 1970, Vol 21, No 6
By Barbara W. TuchmanFirst of the Three Parts from STILWELL THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA 1911-1945
The Slave Who Sued for Freedom | March 1990, Vol 41, No 2
By Jon SwanWhile the American Revolution was still being fought, Mum Bett declared that the new nation’s principle of liberty must extend to her, too. It took 80 years and a far-more-terrible war to confirm the rights that she had demanded.
Searching for “Shenandoah” | Winter 2022, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Bruce WatsonIt's one of the oldest folk ballads in our national songbook, but where did it come from? The answer is complex, multi-layered, American.
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