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Featured Essays
Some writers ignore a mountain of evidence contrary to their theories about the telephone's development.
New evidence finally settles the 150-year-old debate as to whether Alexander Graham Bell or Elisha Gray first invented the telephone.
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!
The Turning Point in the Revolutionary War | October 1997, Vol 48, No 6
By Richard M. Ketchum
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.
The Shots Heard Round the World | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2
By John FerlingWhat began as a civil war within the British Empire continued until it became a wider conflict affecting peoples and countries across Europe and North America.
Revolution Song | Fall 2019 - George Washington Prize Books, Vol 64, No 5
By Russell ShortoThe American War for Independence was part of an international trend -- a new focus on the individual that inspired people to new insights, new proclamations, and new assertions of rights.
The Forgotten Battle of Menotomy | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2
By Michael RudermanOvershadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.
Classic Essays from the Archives
Ike's Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr. | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2
By John D. EisenhowerThe author, who once served under General Patton and whose father, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was Patton's commanding officer, shares his memories of "Ol' Blood and Guts."
On History | February 1964, Vol 15, No 2
By John F. Kennedy"Americans are united by their history and by a faith in progress, justice, and freedom," writes President Kennedy
Lincoln and Presidential Character | October 2020, Vol 65, No 6
By David S. ReynoldsAbraham Lincoln learned much of what made him a great president — honesty, sincerity, toughness, and humility — from his early reading and from studying the lives of Washington and Franklin.
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