Joshua Zeitz

Joshua Zeitz is a historian and the author most recently of Lincoln's God: How Faith Transformed a President and a Nation and Lincoln Boys, a biography of the President's two closest aides and their many accomplishments after the Civil War, including efforts to document Lincoln's achievements. Previously, Zeitz wrote several other books including Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern, and White Ethnic New York: Jews, Catholics, and the Shaping of Postwar Politics.

In addition to writing frequently for American Heritage, Zeitz has published articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Atlantic, and Dissent. He appeared as a commentator on two PBS documentaries – Boomer Century, and Ken Burns' Prohibition — and has commented on public policy matters on CNBC and CNN International.

After earning his Ph.D. in American History from Brown University, Zeitz lectured at Harvard University, Cambridge University, and Rutgers University. And in 2008 he was candidate for New Jersey's 4th District in the House of Representatives.

Articles by this Author

What Did Martin Luther King Really Believe?, Fall 2025 | Vol. 70, No. 4

Since King’s death, historians and others across the political spectrum have hotly contested the meaning of his legacy.

Looking Back on the Clinton Impeachment, Winter 2019 | Vol. 64, No. 1

The Senate convened 20 years ago to determine whether President Bill Clinton had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors"

Lincoln's Boys, Spring 2018 | Vol. 63, No. 1

John Nicolay and John Hay were Lincoln’s two closest aides in the White House, and they helped to craft the image of the president that we have today.

Joseph Ellis Explains Just How Revolutionary the Revolution Was, Winter 2008 | Vol. 58, No. 1

1964 - The Year the 60s Began, October 2006 | Vol. 57, No. 5

Viewing a transformation that still affects all of us—through the prism of a single year

The Boomer Century, October 2005 | Vol. 56, No. 5

What’s going to happen when the most prosperous, best-educated generation in history finally grows up? (And just how special are the baby boomers?)

The Democratic Debacle in 1964, June/July 2004 | Vol. 55, No. 3

The Republican party ensured a landslide defeat when it nominated Barry Goldwater in 1964, but the Democrats did far more lasting damage to themselves at their convention in Atlantic City that year. In fact, they still haven’t recovered.

Why We Can't Count on the U.N., August/September 2003 | Vol. 54, No. 4

Why the UN was in trouble from the start

Dixie’s Victory, August/September 2002 | Vol. 53, No. 4

The old Confederacy got only as far north as Pennsylvania, but its great-grandchildren have captured America’s culture. Joshua Zeitz looks at sports, entertainment, and religion to show how.

Are Our Liberties in Peril?, November/December 2001 | Vol. 52, No. 8

Facing a nearly invisible enemy, we all may be subjected to new kinds of government scrutiny. But previous wars suggest that the final result may be greater freedom.

Back to the Barricades, October 2001 | Vol. 52, No. 7

For the first time in a generation, student activism is on the rise. Do these new protesters have anything like the zeal, the conviction, and the clout of their famous 1960s predecessors?

"WEB ONLY STORIES" BY THIS CONTRIBUTOR

The Tax Revolution That Gave Us Today’s Government Mess

Twenty-nine years ago today, on June 6, 1978, California voters approved by a two-to-one margin a revolutionary ballot initiative known as Proposition 13. Aimed at curbing the growth of state government, the measure slashed property taxes by an average of 57 percent, limited property-tax rates to…

2007-06-06

How the Best Presidents Did It

A new counterpart to John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. Imagine an embattled man named George with a Southern twang serving the last two years of his second term as President. His reputation as a wartime leader once earned him immeasurable public acclaim, but an unpopular foreign policy,…

2007-05-09

Where Did All the Stewardesses Go?

In his 1997 box-office hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mike Myers plays an MI-6 agent cryogenically frozen in 1967 and awoken 30 years later. Boarding an airplane for the first time, he cries, “Here’s the stewardesses! Bring on the sexy stews!” “Excuse me,” one of them replies. “…

2007-03-22

The Dawn of Bob Dylan

Friday, April 29, 1961, was a big day for Bob Dylan. Dressed in his signature ragtag work clothes, and bearing a wide grin that only accentuated his soft, baby-faced features, the 20-year-old college-dropout-turned-troubadour sauntered into Studio A at the Columbia Records building, at Seventh…

2007-03-19

The Eternal Mystery of Ronald Reagan

There’s a story that shortly after he won election against California’s popular incumbent governor, Ronald Reagan was asked how he planned to tackle all the problems facing the nation’s most populous state. “I don’t know,” he said solemnly. “I’ve never played a governor.” John Patrick Diggins, the…

2007-02-24

Mel Brooks on the Edge

In 1950 the sociologist Robert E. Park introduced the concept of the “marginal man” into academia. What he meant was “a cultural hybrid, a man living and sharing intimately in the cultural life and traditions of two distinct peoples; never quite willing to break, even if he were permitted to do so…

2007-02-21

Franklin Roosevelt to Run for President

On the campaign trail in 1932. (FDR Library) When New York’s governor, Franklin Roosevelt, announced his presidential candidacy on January 23, 1932—75 years ago today—the reaction was very mixed. Time magazine noted that “of the squire of Hyde Park who wants to be President there are abroad in the…

2007-01-23

How Did Ronald Reagan Become a Conservative?

A new book explores the President’s conversion from New Deal liberal. In 1965 the political satirist Tom Lehrer recorded a live concert album featuring musical numbers lampooning the leading public figures of the day. One of the record’s best songs, “George Murphy,” took Californians to task for…

2007-01-22

What Ever Happened to “Ebonics”?

Ten years ago today, on December 18, 1996, the city of Oakland, California provoked national outrage when its Board of Education voted to classify “Ebonics,” or black English, as a distinct language, rather than a dialect of standard English. From across the political spectrum and across the…

2006-12-18

The Right Wing Takes Off

Forty-eight years ago today a group of 11 men converged on a stately Tudor home in a leafy suburban neighborhood in Indianapolis. There, in Marguerite Dice’s living room, they sipped cups of coffee as Robert Welch, Jr., an eccentric candy manufacturer from Massachusetts, spoke for seven hours…

2006-12-09

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