Confederates in the Capitol

The National Statuary Collection announced the unification of the former slave economy’s emotional heartland with the heart of national government.

William Hogeland responds to Martha Nussbaum

Hamilton was hardly the hero or scholar invoked by Nussbaum.

What Does the McCutcheon Decision Say about Democracy?

Our civics has encouraged us to think of voting as special. Roberts’s opinion suggests we have misled ourselves.

Founding Fathers, Founding Villains

As soon as there was a Constitution, fights about its meaning began.

Real Americans

Repeatedly in U.S. history, liberalism and populism have defined themselves by rhetorical rejection of the other.

Consensus History

In response to Sanford Levinson’s critique of Constitutional Conventions.

Constitutional Conventions

Public history should make us think.

American Dreamers

Pete Seeger, William F. Buckley, Jr., and public history.

Inventing Alexander Hamilton

On the troubling embrace of the founder of American finance.

Get our newsletter

Vital reading on politics, ideas, and culture to your inbox


A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975

Registered 501(c)(3) organization