Person

H. W. Brands

Bylines

How a Young George Washington Failed Upward Into an Unpaid Internship

H.W. Brands on the early career of our first president.

by H. W. Brands via Literary Hub on May 20, 2026
The Senator Will Not Yield

Charles Sumner's example reminds us that "with enough courage and drive, can alter the trajectory of American racial history."

by H. W. Brands via The Washington Free Beacon on August 10, 2025
The Ultimate Road Trip

On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs.

by H. W. Brands via The Washington Free Beacon on August 27, 2023
How Grief and Revenge Made Geronimo Into a Legendary War Chief

Before Geronimo met any white Americans or came to think of them as enemies of the Apaches, he spent years fighting Mexicans.

by H. W. Brands via Literary Hub on November 8, 2022
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How the Supreme Court Fractured the Nation — and How It Threatens to Do So Again

Abortion and America’s new sectional divide.

by H. W. Brands via Made By History on November 20, 2018
Tales of Brave Ulysses

Ulysses S. Grant was overlooked by historians and underestimated by contemporaries. H.W. Brands reevaluates Grant’s presidency.

by H. W. Brands via Lapham’s Quarterly on October 1, 2012

The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America

The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom

America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington

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Today’s Echoes of the First ‘America First’

Charles Lindbergh’s ideology prefigured Donald Trump’s—and was rightly disgraced.

by Casey Michel via The Bulwark on November 13, 2024

People holding signs supporting Alfred E. Smith at the 1924 Democratic Convention

Lessons from the 1924 Democratic Convention: An Immigration Debate's Impact

Immigration has been a defining issue in a campaign before, and the consequences transformed the Democratic Party.

via Retro Report on March 14, 2024

U.S. soldiers in combat during the Korean War

How the Korean War Changed the Way the U.S. Goes to Battle

In the Cold War, North Korean Communists invaded South Korea. President Truman’s decision to intervene had consequences that shape the world today.

via Retro Report on April 19, 2021

This Guilty Land: Every Possible Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is widely revered, while many Americans consider John Brown mad. Yet it was Brown’s strategy that brought slavery to an end.

by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on December 17, 2020

"American Progress" (1872) by John Gast

The Mild, Mild West

H.W. Brands' new one-volume history of the American West reads too much like a movie we’ve already seen.

by Karl Jacoby via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 13, 2019

Trump smirking.

Was 2017 the Craziest Year in U.S. Political History?

A dozen historians weigh in.

via Politico Magazine on December 29, 2017

Theodore Roosevelt in three energetic poses.

The Performer

The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and his creation of the modern "performer" president.

by Russell Baker via New York Review of Books on April 11, 2002

Ben Franklin portrait

'I Long Regretted Bitterly, and Still Regret That I Had Not Given It To Him'

Benjamin Franklin's writing about losing his son to smallpox is a must-read for parents weighing COVID-19 vaccines today.

by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on November 2, 2021

The United States Didn't Really Begin Until 1848

America, you’ve got the dates wrong. Your intense debate over which year marks the real beginning of the United States—1619 (slavery’s arrival) or 1776.

by Joe Mathews via Zócalo Public Square on October 5, 2021

This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined

The Constitution originally provided for the selection of senators by state legislatures, but the 17th Amendment changed that, and with it, the Senate itself.

by Jane Chong via The Atlantic on January 21, 2020

Here's What Benjamin Franklin Scholars Think About Lin-Manuel Miranda's Ode to the Inventor

Fact-checking the lyrics of Miranda's new song.

by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on December 15, 2017

Thomas Jefferson and Us

The resurgence of the debate over the Sage of Monticello's legacy: Is Jefferson the ultimate patriot or ultimate hypocrite?

by David Sehat via William and Mary Quarterly on October 1, 2017

Gen. Lew Wallace, circa 1861.

The Incredible Life of Lew Wallace, Civil War General and Author of Ben-Hur

The incredible story of how a disgraced Civil War general became one of the best-selling novelists in American history.

by John Swansburg via Slate on March 26, 2013

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