The history of ivory-topped piano keys and the invisible human suffering caused by our cultural commodities.

Jimmy Carter is known for his defense of human rights worldwide. But in 1979, he threatened to deport thousands of Iranian student protesters.

Rethinking the job of history — and the American Historical Association — after the veto of the Gaza “scholasticide” resolution.

The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come.

Gladiator and Gladiator II have little to do with the Roman past. But they have a great deal to do with the American present.

In 1984, the U.S. rejected the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction, revealing its tendency to ignore international rules it sees as unfavorable — even when it helped write them.

The U.S. Justice Department recently hauled Google into court for violating an 1890 federal law designed to forestall the unjust consolidation of economic power. Known today as the Sherman Act ...

The life of John Andrew Jackson — and the vacillating richness and scarcity of the archive.

For every moment of historical significance, there is a figure — often hidden — who fed the figures we do remember.

When you dig beyond all purpose, digging becomes the purpose.

My new book, A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging centers on the story of the 2020 fire that destroyed the largest refugee camp in Europe on the Greek island of Lesvos, and the six ...

A century ago, the electric power industry faced an existential crisis as government mulled over public rural electrification programs. Their solution was to provide teachers and schools with ...