Ed Yong talks about “An Immense World,” and Terry Alford discusses “In the Houses of Their Dead.”
Tag Archives: Lincoln, Abraham
The Hidden Story of the North’s Victory in the Civil War
Roger Lowenstein’s “Ways and Means” offers a fresh perspective on the Civil War by explaining the importance of financing.
Time Capsule From 1887 Possibly Found in Robert E. Lee Statue
Virginia historians are confident they’ve located a time capsule beneath a former monument to the Confederate general Robert E. Lee. They are less confident about how to get it out of a 1,500-pound granite rock.
Freedom’s Just Another Word for … What Exactly?
We all want liberty. The question is what we each want to do with it,
Lincoln Broke Our Constitution. Then He Remade It.
He turned a messy, pragmatic compromise into an aspirational blueprint for a nation based on equal liberty for all.
Was the Constitution Pro-Slavery? Jefferson Davis Thought So. Abraham Lincoln Didn’t.
Noah Feldman’s “The Broken Constitution” argues that Lincoln had to remake the American Constitution in order to battle slavery.
We Underestimated Trump Before. It Didn’t Go Well.
The former president continues to pose a threat because our political imagination fails us.
Friends in High Places
Hanging with presidents: Sometimes First Friends are helping found a country; other times, they’re mixing martinis.
‘Critical Race Theory’ And How American History Is Taught
What progressives want, and what conservatives are fighting.
Trump and the Republican Party’s Cruel Logic
Why there was Trumpism long before Trump — and there will be long afterward.
Juneteenth Reminds Us Just How Far We Have to Go
Abolishing slavery was only one step on a winding journey.
Pulling Back the Curtain on the Lincolns’ Marriage
In “An American Marriage,” Michael Burlingame portrays Abraham and Mary as being constantly at each other’s throat.
Some Statues Tell Lies. This One Tells the Truth.
Billy Frank Jr. changed the country for the better and won rights for Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.
Maryland’s State Song, a Nod to the Confederacy, Nears Repeal
The lyrics of “Maryland, My Maryland,” long criticized as sympathetic to the Confederacy, refer to Abraham Lincoln as a “despot” and Union soldiers as “Northern scum!”
San Francisco Pauses School Renamings to Focus on Returning Students to Classrooms
A plan to rename schools that honored people like Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson was put on hold after criticism of the plan and, particularly, its timing amid the pandemic.
Chicago Lists Lincoln Statues Among Monuments to Review
A city commission, created after protests against racism last year, identified five statues of Abraham Lincoln among 41 monuments that should receive public scrutiny.
San Francisco Scraps 44 School Names, Citing Reckoning With Racism
The school board said the move would shed homages to figures including Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Dianne Feinstein. But critics — including the mayor — said the matter was ill-timed amid the pandemic.
Sharpshooters, Protesters, a Secret Train Trip
The inaugural of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is not the first to take place at a tense moment in American history.
Lincoln Knew in 1838 What 2021 Would Bring
Before Jefferson Davis there was John C. Calhoun. What rougher beasts do Trump, Hawley and Cruz prefigure?
The Bogusness of Anti-Impeachment Republicans
Suddenly they like “unity” and fear “divisiveness.” Where was that spirit when election results were being counted?
Was the Constitution a Pro-Slavery Document?
In “The Crooked Path to Abolition,” James Oakes shows how Abraham Lincoln relied on America’s founding texts to chart a path to abolition.
The Capitol Takeover That Wasn’t
In 1861, a pro-Southern mob wanted to block the tallying of electoral votes for Lincoln. So did some congressmen.
Gabby Giffords: 10 Years Ago, a Gunman Tried to Silence Me
During a week in which our country has endured shock, I’ve thought a lot about resilience and determination.
Boston Removes Statue of Formerly Enslaved Man Kneeling Before Lincoln
Officials voted unanimously to remove “Emancipation Group” in June, after a widespread petition and hours of debate.
The Forgotten Radicalism of Jesus Christ
First-century Christians weren’t prepared for what a truly inclusive figure he was, and what was true then is still true today.
‘Loser’: How a Lifelong Fear Bookended Trump’s Presidency
The president’s inability to concede the election is the latest reality-denying moment in a career preoccupied with an epithet.
Thanksgiving Is a Celebration of Freedom
The origins of the national holiday have little to do with Pilgrims and Indians.
What Is Trump Playing at?
The president’s refusal to concede that he lost the election is taking us into dangerous territory.
How Biden Can Rule America in Spite of Everything
It won’t be easy, but coming after a self-styled “disrupter” opens up its own possibilities.
How Lincoln Survived the Worst Election Ever
There are many parallels between 1860 and 2020. Let’s hope there aren’t too many.
Protesters in Portland Topple Statues of Lincoln and Roosevelt
The demonstrations highlighted a mass execution overseen by President Lincoln and also targeted Theodore Roosevelt.
Our Leader’s Life Is at Risk. Cue the Conspiracy Theories.
Poisons, plots and psychic powers — why is the president’s health such fertile ground for the paranoid imagination?
Book Review: ‘The Zealot and the Emancipator,’ by H.W. Brands
H.W. Brands’s “The Zealot and the Emancipator” looks at how two opponents of slavery chose very different paths to abolition.
Lincoln Has Another Lesson for Trump
The essence of the American idea is unity under the law, through and despite difference.
Searching for the Real Abraham Lincoln
David S. Reynolds’s “Abe” seeks to understand Lincoln by placing him in the context of his times.
Down With Judicial Supremacy!
The Supreme Court was never meant to be the only arbiter of the meaning of the Constitution.
Remembering the Presidency of Donald Trump
I wish it were a fever dream in my Covid-clouded mind. But, no, our president believes empathy, like patriotic sacrifice, is for suckers.
The Never-Ending War Between the White House and the Press
Harold Holzer’s “The Presidents vs. the Press” argues that conflicts between chief executives and journalists go back to the start of the Republic.
More Than Just a Tweet: Trump’s Campaign to Undercut Democracy
Floating the idea of delaying the election was the latest step in the president’s running effort to discredit the election, risking long-term damage to public trust in the system.
Rename theMilitary Bases That Honor Confederates
The military should rechristen bases named for Confederates. Better options are not hard to find.
The Ghost of Woodrow Wilson
The debts our institutions owe to the problematic past can’t just be canceled.
Is Statue-Toppling a Monumental Error?
Where you place yourself along the vanguard-to-vandals spectrum says a lot about how you see the past — and the future.
Activists Push for Removal of Statue of Freed Slave Kneeling Before Lincoln
The Emancipation Memorial, intended to commemorate the end of slavery, has prompted a thorny debate over what the interaction between the two figures conveys.
To Overturn Trump, We Need to Overturn White Supremacy
For that to happen, some monuments — and the historical myths they supported — are going to have to come down.
Trump’s False Claim That ‘Nobody Has Ever Done’ More for the Black Community Than He Has
The records of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson, among others, beg to differ.
America, We Break It, It’s Gone
Where can we find the leadership to save the U.S.?
Why Is Trump Leaving Us to Grieve on Our Own?
The president’s indifference to collective mourning is of a piece with a political movement that denies our collective ties.
If We Had a Real Leader
Imagining Covid under a normal president.
Sorry, Abe Lincoln Is Not on the Ballot
But the 16th president is showing up quite a bit in the 2020 race. He remains uncommitted.
Coronavirus Shows that the Post Office is the Most American Thing We’ve Got
Trump calls it ‘a joke.’ Washington and Lincoln would disagree.