New This Week on History News Network

Trending on HNN - Why FDR Wouldn't Condemn Hitler Rafael Medoff - Fear of the "Pussification" of America: A Short Cultural History Gregory A. Daddis - Oh No! The Depressing Truth About the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory Workers Donald Yacovone This Week's Op Eds Original essays for the History News Network. "Refusing to Be Governed Like That": The Dangers of Trusting in History's Judgment by Joan Wallach Scott If, as the abolitionist Theodore Parker wrote, "the arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice," then why bother to hasten its arrival? Those who don't believe that history will guarantee a better future will act to bring a different future into being.   Survivors, Apprentices, and Entrepreneurial Sharks: The Mark Burnett Reality TV Presidency by Daniel Horowitz Mark Burnett's reality TV empire has championed individualism and the myth of the entrepreneurial genius while reviving the celebrity and launching the political career of Donald Trump. Is 2020 the end of the line for both?  Trump: Superhero or Superspreader? by Meredith Martin, Gillian Weiss and Bonnie Siegler Inspired by the Sun King's detractors, the White House Gift Shop's self-parodying statements, and Trump's own Superman fantasies, we offer a medal honoring the Super Spreader. FDR Was Right to Propose Enlarging the Court by James D. Robenalt Franklin Roosevelt's error in 1937 was not to propose expanding the court, it was to fail to explain and defend his popular political reasons for doing so. A Star-Spangled Moment of Reckoning for U.S. Civil-Military Relations? by Gregory D. Foster The "deal" between the military and civilian leadership has hinged on an exchange of obedience to lawful authority by the military for expectations of honesty, competence, and respect for the Constitution on the part of elected leaders. This deal has been taken for granted, until now.  Where Ross Douthat Goes Wrong by Jim Sleeper Jim Sleeper argues that Times columnist Ross Douthat's brand of conservatism fixates on a supposed liberal cultural domination while ignoring the right's long path to consolidating power through the law, institutions and the threat of physical force.  Bergen-Belsen Through the Eyes of a Teenaged Inmate: A Conversation with Bernice Lerner by Robin Lindley Robin Lindley interviews Dr. Bernice Lerner, whose book "All the Horrors of War" connects the stories of Dr. Glyn Hughes, the British military doctor tasked with the health of liberated prisoners at Bergen-Belsen, and her own mother, who was among the liberated survivors. 'One Man, and One Man Alone': Mussolini's War by John Gooch Mussolini acted on the spur of the moment, always sensitive to the need to be seen as Hitler's equal.  Rarely did anyone ever try to talk him out of a chosen course, and when they did so they failed.  You couldn't reason with him. The Queen's Two Bodies by Ed Simon Queen Elizabeth's speech to English soliders in anticipation of the Spanish invasion of 1588 rallied the troops for a battle that never happened. But it anticipated today's cultural battle over the stability of gender categories.  COVID Man: Life during Wartime 523 by Joshua Brown   Reading Pope Francis's "Fratelli Tutti" through Carl Sandburg by Walter G. Moss The latest encyclical by Pope Francis, calling for recognition of the unity of humanity, echoes the egalitarian humanism of the poet and writer Carl Sandburg. Joe Biden Is Setting A Record That No One Has Noticed by David O. Stewart Joe Biden has been on the national ticket as a candidate three times, a distinction shared by both great and mediocre figures in American history. If he's victorious, he'd become one of only 6 people to win three times.  An Interview with Ian W. Toll, author of "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945" by James Thornton Harris "Military histories have tended to take a "stay in your lane" approach, adhering to accounts of battles and operations. I prefer to weave the strands of politics and foreign policy into the fabric of the narrative."   Don't Miss!   "Provided I Can Fuse on Ground Which I Think is Right": A Lincolnian View of the White House History Conference by Allen C. Guelzo "The fact that Americans have not always lived up fully to that Enlightenment universalism, or that ethnicity has often gotten bloodily in the way of it, merely shows that we are human, not that it is wrong." Who Owns Churchill?: Three Mythic Configurations by Steven Fielding, Bill Schwarz, and Richard Toye A new book examines the ways that Winston Churchill's image has been used in British politics, not least by Churchill himself. How the Dred Scott Decision Broke the Democrats and Boomeranged on the Court by James A. Morone We usually parse Dred Scott v. Sandford as the Worst Decision Ever, but it also offers an overlooked political lesson. The Court waded into a high partisan battle and badly damaged the institutions behind the ruling. The Coming Election and the Political State of Fugue by Danielle Taana Smith American institiutions are threatened with transformation into unrecognizable and undemocratic forms; stopping these changes means holding on to a collective sense of national purpose in the face of misinformation and gaslighting. Corporate Money Turns Democracy Upside Down in California Initiative Process by James Thornton Harris Intended as a tool to circumvent the power of big business in the state legislature, California's ballot initiative process has become yet another channel for the political influence of big money.   Roundup Top 10 Roundup Top Ten for October 23, 2020 The top op eds by historians from around the web last week.

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