Subscribe to the IHARE Blog

The War on History: November 2024 to November 2025

The war on history continues. A lot has happened in the past year. On November 24, 2024, I published the first of a six-blog series on What Are American Students Learning about US History?, about a two-year study by the American Historical Association. See below for the links to the six blogs. Now almost exactly […]

Read More

Trump Closes Portland Airport to Cutoff Antifa Reinforcements

The MAGA mind at work: Before the start of the 2024 Superbowl, broadcaster Mike Crispi claimed that the National Football League is “rigged” in order to spread “Democratic propaganda. He called what would happen”: KC wins, goes to the Superbowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and ‘endorses’ Joe Biden with [now fiancé] Kelce […]

Read More

The New York State 250th Update

The New York State 250th Commission is up and running. I have attended two state-wide meetings in person (in Albany) and some online meetings as well. So I can vouch for its existence. So how is it doing? What is going on? Visit Philadelphia launches national campaign to lure visitors for America’s 250th anniversary (press […]

Read More

History Wars: Patriots versus Loyalists, The Battle Is Engaged

I am writing this post wearing my “Defend History!” button. The button was distributed by David Blight, Yale University, president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) at the annual conference last spring. Blight has been quite active and prominent in defending history from the assault by Donald Trump, president of the United States. My […]

Read More

The Bible Among Ruins: Sodom, Israelite History and the Hebrew Bible

The Bible Among Ruins: Sodom, Israelite History and the Hebrew Bible ASOR November 20, 2025 Peter Feinman feinmanp@ihare.org What is the soul of the Western tradition? Argument. Socrates goes around Athens investigating the claims of the supposedly wise and finds that the people who claim to know things don’t. The Lord threatens to destroy Sodom […]

Read More

Visions for America: 1630 to Today

If a picture is worth one thousand words, then a good slogan or branding is for winning an election. Political parties are asked what they stand for, why someone should vote for them, what is their vision for the future. Such branding needs to be short. No one is going to read a 900+ page […]

Read More

The Scopes Trial: Race, Religion, and the Culture Wars

Ignorance and fanaticism is ever busy and needs feeding. Always it is feeding and gloating for more. Today, it is the public school teachers, tomorrow the private. The next day the preachers and the lecturers, the magazines, the books, the newspapers. After a while, Your Honor, it is the setting of man against man and […]

Read More

The Attack on the Smithsonian Previews His Presidential Library

The Attack on the Smithsonian Previews His Presidential Library

The Sound of Music on Trump’s attempt to steal the election The Smithsonian is one of the premier educational and cultural institutions in the country and the world. When it is in the news it usually because of a donation it received either in money or an object. It conducts symposia on important cultural and […]

Read More

Putin, Netanyahu, and Trump: Childkillers of the 21st Century

The 21st century is different from the 20th. Last century, the wars were of great magnitude: World War I – we were triumphant in the global war against Germany World War II – we were triumphant in the global wars against German and Japan World War III – we were triumphant in the global Cold […]

Read More

Gladiator versus the American Senate

Is Rome worth one good man’s life? We believed it once. Make us believe it again. He was a soldier of Rome. Honor him. Senator Gracchus: Who will help me carry him? [Gladiators surround Maximus to carry him out of the arena] “Gladiator” is remembered as an epic story of great heroism. Such movies of […]

Read More