AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

Friends of American Heritage gathered to celebrate 75 years of great writing and education about our nation's history.

Discovered: First Maps of the American Revolution

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

Previously unknown, a map drawn by Lord Percy, the British commander at Lexington, sheds new light on the perilous retreat to Boston 250 years ago this month.

The Shots Heard Round the World

by John Ferling

What 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.

The Forgotten Battle of Menotomy

by Michael Ruderman

Overshadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.

Introduction: Revisiting Concord and Lexington

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

This special issue looks at the dramatic and momentous events that occurred 250 years ago this month.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

“The Tide is Setting Strongly Against Us” | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4

By Edward L. Ayers

Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.

1619: The Year That Shaped America | Winter 2019, Vol 64, No 1

By James Horn

Four hundred years ago this year, two momentous events happened in Britain’s fledgling colony in Virginia: the New World’s first democratic assembly convened, and an English privateer brought kidnapped Africans to sell as slaves. Such were the conflicted origins of modern America.

The Meaning of 1918 | Fall 2018 - World War I Special Issue, Vol 63, No 3

By John Lukacs

A century after the guns fell silent along the Western Front, the work they did there remains of incalculable importance to the age we inhabit and the people we are.

Lincoln and Presidential Character | October 2020, Vol 65, No 6

By David S. Reynolds

Abraham Lincoln learned much of what made him a great president — honesty, sincerity, toughness, and humility — from his early reading and from studying the lives of Washington and Franklin.

Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other? | Fall 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Annette Gordon-Reed

To call it a loaded question does not begin to do justice to the matter, given America’s tortured racial history and its haunting legacy.

On History | February 1964, Vol 15, No 2

By John F. Kennedy

"Americans are united by their history and by a faith in progress, justice, and freedom," writes President Kennedy

Today in History

Theodore Dreiser born

American author Theodore Dreiser was born in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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LBJ born

36th President Lyndon B. Johnson was born on a small farm outside of Stonewall, Texas. Johnson was first elected to Congress in 1937 and continued to serve during World War II, when he became a Naval officer in the Pacific Theater. His "Great Society" programs and embrace of the Civil Rights Movement somewhat overshadow his unrealistic pursuit of victory in Vietnam
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Japan's PM requests meeting with FDR

Japan's Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe requests a meeting with President Franklin Roosevelt to diminish rising tensions between the two countries; he would resign in October and was succeeded by the more militaristic General Hideki Tojo.
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Battle of Long Island

A formidable British army commanded by General William Howe defeats General George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn. In the largest battle in North American history American soldiers could not hold their defensive lines, but slyly escaped Brooklyn, avoiding total defeat.
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