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Featured Essays
Recent rehabilitation of this important site at the Gettysburg battlefield provides a much improved experience for visitors.
In the Age of Discovery, maps held closely guarded secrets for the kings, adventurers, and merchants who first acquired them.
Since her untimely death in 1963, the legendary country music star—and the first female to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame—continues to inspire new audiences and artists.
A Chinatown cook's fight to re-enter the U.S. in 1895 went up to the Supreme Court, which upheld his claim to birthright citizenship and guaranteed it for all through the 14th Amendment.
America 250!
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.
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.
Knox Brings Cannon and Victory to General Washington | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4
By Edwin S. GrosvenorSetting out 250 years ago this month, Henry Knox’s “Noble Train” carried 60 tons of desperately needed artillery to help patriots oust British forces from Boston.
Glover and the “Indispensables” Save Washington’s Army | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Patrick K. O'DonnellJohn Glover and the men of Marblehead saved the Continental Army several times, and then helped it cross the Delaware to victory at Trenton and Princeton.
The Battle that Led to Victory at Yorktown | Fall 2019 - George Washington Prize Books, Vol 64, No 5
By Nathaniel PhilbrickLargely overlooked in histories of the Revolution, the Battle of the Chesapeake is in fact one of the most important naval engagements in history, leading to the American victory at Yorktown.
Classic Essays from the Archives
The Hawthornes In Paradise | December 1958, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
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.”
America: Experiment or Destiny? | June 1977, Summer 2025, Vol 28, No 4
By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.We can take pride in our nation, not as we pretend to a commission from God and a sacred destiny, but as we struggle to fulfill our deepest values in an inscrutable world.
Alice Paul: “I Was Arrested, Of Course…” | February 1974, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Robert S. GallagherAn interview with the famed suffragette, Alice Paul
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