New perspectives on the many ways in which the past shapes the present. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly deliveries of our original writing about history: http://hnn.us/newsletter Powered by @bunkhistory.bsky.social at the University of Richmond.https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mwsworprac2oTom Hanks’ recent TV series slots into a long history of domesticating the horrors of the “Good War.” https://www.hnn.us/article/the-world-war-ii-stories-we-tell-ourselves01 Oct 2026 13:12 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mwsworprac2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mw2oxaibd22v“For all his celebration of ordinary people, Wood hardly ever let them speak in his books. Instead, he focused on elites: what they believed, how they argued, what frightened them, whom they befriended, how the outcome disappointed them.” https://www.hnn.us/article/a-republic-of-the-people-a-constitution-of-air21 Sep 2026 21:49 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mw2oxaibd22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mvsxzpscn225Charting the evolution of the history podcast from 2004–2026. https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/a-brief-history-of-history-podcasting18 Sep 2026 20:10 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvsxzpscn225https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mvsan2545k2t“Wood made the Constitution thin in its words and thinner still in its power. In doing so, he was tapping into a long intellectual tradition.” https://www.hnn.us/article/a-republic-of-the-people-a-constitution-of-air18 Sep 2026 13:12 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvsan2545k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mvqmu2j7oc2rFamous for his books about the founders, Gordon S. Wood’s true legacy may have been about showing how futile their efforts were in the face of pressures from below. https://www.hnn.us/article/a-republic-of-the-people-a-constitution-of-air17 Sep 2026 21:45 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvqmu2j7oc2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mv4ebvpnds2gThe contrast between a clear symbol of autocratic rule — the stern-faced Trump — and the message of personal freedom — “Liberty” — shows a disconnect between the ideals of the U.S. founders and the concerted effort of the current administration to redefine national values. https://www.hnn.us/article/regime-change09 Sep 2026 20:18 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv4ebvpnds2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mumotlctsk2kAs judges have increasingly turned to historical evidence, public debate has also come to treat originalism and the broader judicial use of historical context as though they were synonymous. They are not. https://www.hnn.us/article/how-history-became-central-at-the-supreme-court03 Sep 2026 14:45 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mumotlctsk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mu5hya3yjs2dPrimary sources are the necessary building blocks of history — unless you ask a chatbot to write it. https://www.hnn.us/article/ai-is-an-anti-primary-source-machine28 Aug 2026 13:32 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5hya3yjs2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mu3jktuzis22Real voices from the past are threatened by chatbots designed to amplify — and ultimately become — the loudest voices in the room. https://www.hnn.us/article/ai-is-an-anti-primary-source-machine27 Aug 2026 18:55 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3jktuzis22https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mtjysl5hys2dAs the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday, historians and archaeologists are working to recover the names of those who fought for independence. https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/where-lies-the-revolutionary-soldier20 Aug 2026 19:40 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtjysl5hys2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mrnkb5nxek2vLothrop Stoddard believed that the concept of “natural equality” between people was a threat to America. In the 1920s, it was hardly a fringe idea. https://www.hnn.us/article/a-danger-to-civilization27 Jul 2026 18:40 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrnkb5nxek2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mqaemb46hs27Where has this myth of repressed Victorian Britain come from? And why has it remained? https://www.hnn.us/article/myth-of-the-victorian-prude09 Jul 2026 19:29 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqaemb46hs27https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mptvcmbyr224It took time for the fight against British taxes and tyranny to claim the character of a revolution. https://www.hnn.us/article/declaring-revolution04 Jul 2026 20:23 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mptvcmbyr224https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mptv4q4s2c24Why do Americans continue to stretch the truth, 19th-century style, about the country’s founders? https://www.hnn.us/article/young-washington-is-old-history04 Jul 2026 20:20 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mptv4q4s2c24https://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mprd4r2ygc2i“For many people, the experience of living through the American Revolution was a deeply distressing, traumatic ordeal, one wracked by inner turmoil, fear, and insecurity. These emotions manifested most palpably in domestic life.” https://www.hnn.us/article/the-sweets-of-peace-and-domestic-happiness03 Jul 2026 19:52 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mprd4r2ygc2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mpqxj2sb322eOn the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed. https://www.hnn.us/article/an-appeal-for-inaction03 Jul 2026 16:25 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpqxj2sb322ehttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mpqmbouq6c2dThe film doesn’t portray young Washington as the arrogant, highly anglicized British subject that scholars have shown him to be. Instead, he is a moralistic proto-American. The only thing British about Washington is the actor who was cast to play him. https://www.hnn.us/article/young-washington-is-old-history03 Jul 2026 13:04 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpqmbouq6c2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mpoqylyijc2g“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.” — John Adams https://mailchi.mp/historynewsnetwork/taking-stock-of-the-250th02 Jul 2026 19:23 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpoqylyijc2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/myhnn.bsky.social/post/3mpo55av5qc2eBeware of attending a historical film with a historian. Read Denver Brunsman on the old history in the new movie, “Young Washington.” https://www.hnn.us/article/young-washington-is-old-history02 Jul 2026 13:27 +0000at://did:plc:ml7w5rdgnbofbeud3goxal64/app.bsky.feed.post/3mpo55av5qc2e