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Featured Essays
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, our founding charter remains central to our national life, unifying us and paving the way for what we have long called “the American Dream.”
America’s extraordinary success is directly related to its unique form of government embodied in the Constitution.
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.
"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Summer 2025, Vol 59, No 4
By Douglas BrinkleyBadly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.
“Boston Harbor a Tea-pot This Night!” | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Benjamin CarpThe dumping of tons of tea in protest set the stage for the American Revolution and was a window on the culture and attitudes of the time.
Did Hurricanes Save America? | September 2020, Vol 65, No 5
By Eric Jay DolinThe outcome of the American Revolution may have been affected by catastrophic storms in the deadliest hurricane season in recorded history.
The Shots Heard Round the World | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2
By John FerlingWhat began as a civil war within the British Empire continued until it became a wider conflict affecting peoples and countries across Europe and North America.
Classic Essays from the Archives
Lincoln As Commander in Chief | Winter 2009, Summer 2025, Vol 58, No 6
By James M. McPhersonEven though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.
"I Had Prayed to God That This Thing Was Fiction…" | February 1990, Vol 41, No 1
By William WilsonHe didn’t want the job, but felt he should do it. For the first time, the soldier who tracked down the My Lai story for the office of the inspector general in 1969 tells what it was like to do some of this era’s grimmest detective work.
The Man of the Century | May/June 1994, Vol 45, No 3
By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.Of all the Allied leaders, argues FDR's biographer, only Roosevelt saw clearly the shape of the new world they were fighting to create.
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