Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

8,388 items

Essay

The Sixties

Harvard Sitkoff

Forty years after it ended, the 1960s remains the most consequential and controversial decade of the twentieth century. It would dawn bright with hope and idealism, see the liberal state attain its mightiest reforms and reach, and end...

Essay

The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945

David M. Kennedy

Economics, Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Across the long arc of American history, three moments in particular have disproportionately determined the course of the Republic’s development. Each respectively distilled the experience and defined the historical legacy of a...

History Now Essay

The United States and China during the Cold War

Warren I. Cohen

World History

The Cold War Comes to Asia In the closing years of World War II, American military and diplomatic representatives in China recognized that civil war was likely to erupt between the Nationalist-controlled government headed by Chiang...

Appears in:

27 | The Cold War Spring 2011

History Now Essay

From These Honored Dead: Memorial Day and Veterans Day in American History

Kenneth T. Jackson

Government and Civics

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the prop osition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether...

Appears in:

4 | American National Holidays Summer 2005

Essay

World War I

Jennifer D. Keene

Economics, Government and Civics, World History

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

War swept across Europe in the summer of 1914, igniting a global struggle that would eventually take nine million lives. World War I pitted the Allies (initially composed of Britain, France, Belgium, Serbia, and Russia, and eventually...

History Now Essay

A New Era of American Indian Autonomy

Ned Blackhawk

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The American West is home to the majority of America’s Indian Nations, and, within the past generation, many of these groups have achieved unprecedented political and economic gains. Numerous reservation communities now manage...

Appears in:

9 | The American West Fall 2006

Essay

The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II in the American West

Elliott West

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

The Great Depression and World War II, far and away the worst economic calamity and the costliest foreign war in American history, profoundly affected every part of the United States. Changes in the West were especially obvious. From...

History Now Essay

Avast! How the US Built a Navy, Sent In the Marines, and Faced Down the Barbary Pirates

Christopher L. Miller

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In October 1784, an American merchant vessel, the Betsey , was on a trade run from her home port of Boston to Tenerife in the Canary Islands when she was approached by an un-flagged vessel. Suddenly, "sabers grasped between their...

Appears in:

20 | High Crimes and Misdemeanors Summer 2009

History Now Essay

Lincoln’s Interpretation of the Civil War

Eric Foner

Government and Civics, Literature, Religion and Philosophy

10, 11, 12, 13+

On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time. The setting itself reflected how much had changed in the past four years. When Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address, the new Capitol dome, which...

Appears in:

26 | New Interpretations of the Civil War Winter 2010

History Now Essay

Transcontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space

Richard White

Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Many of our modern clichés about the impact of technology, particularly about the consequences of the Internet and telecommunications, first appeared as clichés about nineteenth-century railroads, particularly the transcontinental...

Appears in:

10 | Nineteenth Century Technology Winter 2006

Site Search

8,388 items

The Sixties

The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945

The United States and China during the Cold War

From These Honored Dead: Memorial Day and Veterans Day in American History

World War I

A New Era of American Indian Autonomy

The Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II in the American West

Avast! How the US Built a Navy, Sent In the Marines, and Faced Down the Barbary Pirates

Lincoln’s Interpretation of the Civil War

Transcontinental Railroads: Compressing Time and Space

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