Classic Essays from Our Archives

Herbert Hoover Describes the Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson | June 1958, Vol 9, No 4

The great tragedy of the twenty-eighth President as witnessed by his loyal lieutenant, the thirty-first.

Ike's Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr. | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2

The author, who once served under General Patton and whose father, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was Patton's commanding officer, shares his memories of "Ol' Blood and Guts."

Growing Up Colored | Summer 2012, Summer 2025, Vol 62, No 2

By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The noted writer and educator tells of his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont, where African Americans were second-class citizens, but family pride ran deep.

Growing Up Colored | Summer 2012, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The noted writer and educator tells of his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont, where African Americans were second-class citizens, but family pride ran deep.

A Yankee Among The War Lords | October 1970, Vol 21, No 6

By Barbara W. Tuchman

First of the Three Parts from STILWELL THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA 1911-1945

The Man of the Century | May/June 1994, Vol 45, No 3

By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Of all the Allied leaders, argues FDR's biographer, only Roosevelt saw clearly the shape of the new world they were fighting to create.

Range Practice | Februrary 1968, Summer 2025, Vol 19, No 2

By Dean Acheson

Our former Secretary of State recalls his service fifty years ago in the Connecticut National Guard—asthmatic horses, a ubiquitous major, and a memorable

Range Practice | Februrary 1968, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Dean Acheson

Our former Secretary of State recalls his service fifty years ago in the Connecticut National Guard—asthmatic horses, a ubiquitous major, and a memorable

Searching for “Shenandoah” | Winter 2022, Summer 2025, Vol 67, No 1

By Bruce Watson

It's one of the oldest folk ballads in our national songbook, but where did it come from? The answer is complex, multi-layered, American.

Searching for “Shenandoah” | Winter 2022, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Bruce Watson

It's one of the oldest folk ballads in our national songbook, but where did it come from? The answer is complex, multi-layered, American.

Lincoln As Commander in Chief | Winter 2009, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By James M. McPherson

Even though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.

Lincoln As Commander in Chief | Winter 2009, Summer 2025, Vol 58, No 6

By James M. McPherson

Even though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.

Finding the Real Jamestown | Winter 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 58, No 1

By William M. Kelso

The archaeologist who discovered the real Jamestown debunks myths, and answers age-old mysteries about North America's first successful English colony.

Finding the Real Jamestown | Winter 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By William M. Kelso

The archaeologist who discovered the real Jamestown debunks myths, and answers age-old mysteries about North America's first successful English colony.

FDR and His Women | March 2003, Summer 2025, Vol 54, No 1

By Ellen Feldman

A novelist who has just spent several years studying Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucy Rutherfurd, and Missy LeHand tells a moving story of love: public and private, given and withheld.

FDR and His Women | March 2003, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Ellen Feldman

A novelist who has just spent several years studying Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucy Rutherfurd, and Missy LeHand tells a moving story of love: public and private, given and withheld.

Two Intimate Enemies | September 2000, Summer 2025, Vol 51, No 5

By Joseph J. Ellis

When John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.

Two Intimate Enemies | September 2000, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Joseph J. Ellis

When John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.

“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.

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.

The Slave Who Sued for Freedom | March 1990, Vol 41, No 2

By Jon Swan

While the American Revolution was still being fought, Mum Bett declared that the new nation’s principle of liberty must extend to her, too. It took 80 years and a far-more-terrible war to confirm the rights that she had demanded.

"I Had Prayed to God That This Thing Was Fiction…" | February 1990, Vol 41, No 1

By William Wilson

He didn’t want the job, but felt he should do it. For the first time, the soldier who tracked down the My Lai story for the office of the inspector general in 1969 tells what it was like to do some of this era’s grimmest detective work.

A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Richard B. Morris

The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.

A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Summer 2025, Vol 38, No 4

By Richard B. Morris

The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.