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Featured Essays
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.
A private pilot named Kenneth Arnold kicked off a worldwide craze when he claimed he saw a string of shiny saucers fly past Mount Rainier in 1947.
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.
America 250!
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.
Memory and America’s Birthday | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Wilfred M. McClayWhile we “know” more and more about the American past, too many of our citizens are ignorant of who we are and where we came from.
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.
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.
Samuel Adams Starts a Revolution | May 2023, Vol 68, No 3
By Stacy SchiffEnlisting an army of alter egos, Adams used the Boston press to make the case for American independence and to orchestrate a burgeoning rebellion.
Classic Essays from the Archives
The Hawthornes In Paradise | December 1958, Summer 2025, Vol 10, No 1
By Malcolm CowleyNathaniel was poor and sunk in his solitude; Sophia seemed a hopeless invalid, but a late-flower love gave them at last “a perfect Eden.”
“Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead” | August 1959, Summer 2025, Vol 10, No 5
By Barbara W. TuchmanJohn Hay’s ringing phrase helped nominate T. R., but it covered an embarrassing secret that remained concealed for thirty years.
Range Practice | Februrary 1968, Summer 2025, Vol 19, No 2
By Dean AchesonOur former Secretary of State recalls his service fifty years ago in the Connecticut National Guard—asthmatic horses, a ubiquitous major, and a memorable shooting practice.
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