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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!

The Plight of Massachusetts Loyalists | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2

By Larry C. Kerpelman

In “the cradle of the American Revolution,” loyalists to the Crown faced a harsh choice: live with terrible abuse where they were, or flee to friendlier, but alien regions.

loyalists during the revolution

An Update on “Save the Glover!” | Spring 2026, Vol 71, No 2

By Nancy L. Schultz

Efforts continue to preserve the historic home of General John Glover in Swampscott, Massachusetts, which is still slated for demolition.

glover house

Patriots or Terrorists? | Fall 2008, Vol 58, No 5

By Edwin G. Burrows

The Lost Story of Revolutionary War POW’s

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For America’s 250th Birthday, Let’s Think Local | Summer 2023, Vol 68, No 4

By Hans Zeiger

Communities around the U.S. hope that the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary will inspire Americans to appreciate the importance of shared experience and preserving history.

think local

American Rebels at Sea | Summer 2022, Vol 67, No 3

By Eric Jay Dolin

An estimated 1500 privateering ships played a crucial role in winning the American Revolution, but their contributions are often forgotten.

privateers

Classic Essays from the Archives

The Conversion of Harry Truman | November 1991, Vol 42, No 7

By William E. Leuchtenburg

A child of the South's "Lost Cause," Truman broke with his convictions to make civil rights a concern of the national government for the first time since Reconstruction. In so doing, he changed the nation forever.

truman civil rights

“Medic!” | November 1997, Vol 48, No 7

By Stephen E. Ambrose

In a hard war, theirs may have been the hardest job of all. Along with Army doctors and nurses, they worked something very close to a miracle in the European theater.

medic

Columbus and Genocide | October 1975, Vol 26, No 6

By Edward T. Stone

The discoverer of the New World was responsible for the annihilation of the peaceful Arawak Indians

columbus

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