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Featured Essays
New evidence finally settles the 150-year-old debate as to whether Alexander Graham Bell or Elisha Gray first invented the telephone.
Some writers ignore a mountain of evidence contrary to their theories about the telephone's development.
Museums and historic sites across the Southeast help us better understand Andrew Jackson, who helped define American democracy but also championed the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples.
America 250!
Drama on Dorchester Heights: Washington’s First Victory | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Edward J. LarsonThe American patriots came up with a bold plan to force the British out of Boston 250 years ago this month.
Leadership of the Founders | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Joseph J. EllisOur nation came into being thanks to an unexpected explosion of political talent in an emerging nation on the fringe of the Atlantic world.
Glover and the “Indispensables” Save Washington’s Army | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Patrick K. O'DonnellJohn Glover and the men of Marblehead saved the Continental Army several times, and then helped it cross the Delaware to victory at Trenton and Princeton.
With Little Less Than Savage Fury | Fall 2010, Vol 60, No 3
By Thomas B. AllenAmerica’s first civil war took place during the Revolution, an ultra-violent, family-splitting, and often vindictive conflict between "patriots" and loyalists.
Rethinking the Boston Massacre | Special Issue - George Washington Prize 2018, Vol 63, No 2
By Eric HinderakerIt is one of the most notorious incidents in American history, and also one of the least understood.
Classic Essays from the Archives
FDR and His Women | March 2003, Summer 2025, Vol 54, No 1
By Ellen FeldmanA novelist who has just spent several years studying Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucy Rutherfurd, and Missy LeHand tells a moving story of love: public and private, given and withheld.
Two Intimate Enemies | September 2000, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Joseph J. EllisWhen John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.
Alice Paul: “I Was Arrested, Of Course…” | February 1974, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Robert S. GallagherAn interview with the famed suffragette, Alice Paul
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