American History

Most of What I Thought about Confederate Statues Is Wrong

August 22, 2021 By Erik Curren

In which the author confesses to being a Yankee who was fooled for years by the myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy and offers a satirical but educational video as an antidote to fellow sufferers.

Why Liberals Think Spanking the Past Will Help — and Why They’re Wrong

June 28, 2021 By Erik Curren

In a new article, historian Matthew Karp offers the best take I’ve seen so far on the history wars. Conservatives’ fear of inconvenient facts is bad. But liberals’ anger at the past turns out to be worse.

Chicago Can’t Tell the Difference between a Confederate General and an American Hero

June 11, 2021 By Erik Curren

As Confederate statues are rightly coming down across the South, the quintessentially northern city of Chicago is wrongly targeting for removal statues of the men who saved America from those same Confederates.

America’s Founding Documents Were not only for White People, Say Scholars & Activists

August 18, 2020 By Erik Curren

Was the United States founded as a racist nation, as the New York Times “1619 Project” contends? Or was America actually the world’s first explicitly anti-racist country?

George Washington: ‘Horrible Slaveowner’ or Unsung Hero of Abolition?

August 11, 2020 By Erik Curren

George Washington has been under attack on social media and late night comedy. A new book tells the truth about how the founding father related to his enslaved people.

With Confederates Coming Down, the South Needs A New Story. Start with “Smokey and the Bandit.”

August 5, 2020 By Erik Curren

More than just a goofball road movie or even propaganda for a racially sanitized “New South” that never existed, the 1977 film offers a hopeful vision of the South that suggests a better story for the region.