Police beat protesters at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

The Plot to Wreck the Democratic Convention

May not amount to much, actually. Chicago 2024 is not Chicago 1968.

The New History Wars

Inside the strife set off by an essay from the president of the American Historical Association.
Members of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union break open barrels of liquor seized during Prohibition, 1929.

Roe Is the New Prohibition

The pro-life movement needs to know that such culture wars result not in outright victory for one side but in reaction and compromise.
A red, white, and blue star over a cropped portrait of James Madison.

America Must Become a Democracy

The authors of the Constitution feared mass participation would unsettle government, but it’s the privileged minority that has proved destabilizing.

The Souring of American Exceptionalism

Commitment to liberalism once distinguished the U.S. Now, it’s the disdain of elites for their fellow citizens that sets the nation apart.

Trump Isn't the Apotheosis of Conservatism

Writers like Rick Perlstein miss the ways in which Trump’s rise is a story of discontinuity.