The Pilgrims’ Progress
With every major anniversary, our perspective on the voyage of the Mayflower changes. This year’s 400th will address the legacy of colonialism.
USA
The Pilgrim Settlers Before the Mayflower
23 years before the Mayflower, the first pilgrim settlers to America tried, and failed, to settle in Newfoundland.
Slaves and Indians
Europeans did not introduce slavery to North America – although they did change the way it was practised.
Brooklyn Baby
Finding the grit in Brooklyn's gentrification.
Fake News and the End of the World
Science and superstition collided when an apocalypse was predicted to strike the United States in December 1919.
Life on Mark Twain’s Mississippi
Mark Twain painted an evocative vision of the 19th-century Mississippi River, but he didn’t tell the whole story.
Native America: A New Narrative?
1964 was the first time Indians were mentioned in a State of the Union address, not as belligerent enemies or a 'problem'.
The Hitlers in the United States
The Nazi persecution of Jews shaped the African-American freedom struggle, inviting comparisons between Jim Crow and the unfolding Holocaust.
A Hidden Chapter: Women of the Klan
The role of women in the Ku Klux Klan is often neglected, but they were key players at all levels.
‘These Truths’ by Jill Lepore review
These Truths: a History of the United States by Jill Lepore is a reminder of how tenaciously previous generations have clung to the view that the country is the ‘last, best hope of earth’.