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Featured Essays

New evidence finally settles the 150-year-old debate as to whether Alexander Graham Bell or Elisha Gray first invented the telephone.

Some writers ignore a mountain of evidence contrary to their theories about the telephone's development.

Museums and historic sites across the Southeast help us better understand Andrew Jackson, who helped define American democracy but also championed the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples.

Some observers see ambiguity in the 22nd Amendment.

America 250!

America 50: The First Jubilee | Summer 2026, Vol 71, No 3

By Joseph Connor

“And so old Mr. Adams is dead; on the 4th of July, too, just half a century after our Declaration of Independence...”

adams and jefferson

The Shots Heard Round the World | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2

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.

shots heard round the world

Knox Brings Cannon and Victory to General Washington | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4

By Edwin S. Grosvenor

Setting 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.

knox train

The Declaration Still Unites Our Nation | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1

By Michael Auslin

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.”

national archives

Did Hurricanes Save America? | September 2020, Vol 65, No 5

By Eric Jay Dolin

The outcome of the American Revolution may have been affected by catastrophic storms in the deadliest hurricane season in recorded history.

hurricanes america

Classic Essays from the Archives

Alice Paul: “I Was Arrested, Of Course…” | February 1974, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Robert S. Gallagher

An interview with the famed suffragette, Alice Paul

alice paul

Did Castro Okay the Kennedy Assassination? | Winter 2009, Vol 58, No 6

By Gus Russo

Incriminating new evidence has come to light in KGB files and the authors' interviews of former Cuban intelligence officers which indicates that Fidel Castro probably knew in advance of Oswald's intent to kill JFK.

jfk

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.

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