‘Government Totally Annihilated’: How Americans Governed Themselves as British Rule Crumbled
admin America in the mid-1770s was a jumble of spontaneous formations amid the ruins of an empire.
History
1776 All-Stars: Why a Pseudonymous Anti-Federalist Is My Favorite Founder
A pseudonymous Anti-Federalist writer warned about the "sword of government."
Disillusioned Revolutionaries: Many Founders Died in Despair About the American Experiment
America's Founders helped create a world they were not yet ready to live in.
Gordon Wood’s Enduring Defense of the American Revolution
"It was no accident," Wood wrote, "that Americans in Philadelphia in 1775 formed the first anti-slavery society in the world."
Native Americans Taught Colonists How To Fight—and To Live Without Kings
Unlike in Europe, native rulers had little formal authority; they had to persuade others to follow their ideas.
How To Sell a War
Chad Levinson's book details how presidents use a web of private influence to garner support for foreign invasions.
Henry Clay’s Deal That Was No Deal: How the Compromise of 1850 Deepened the Slavery Crisis
Henry Clay's overriding idea was to appease both sides by getting each to give up something to get something.
Psychic Soldiers, Mind Readers, and Dolphin Drones: The Cold War’s Weird Paranormal History
How Soviet séances and CIA remote viewers sparked a decades-long arms race no one was supposed to know about