January 5, 1968: the Prague Spring Begins January 5, 1968: the Prague Spring Begins
What would later become known as the Prague Spring began with the ascension, on this day in 1968, of the reformist Alexander Dubček to the post of first secretary of the Communist ...
Jan 5, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
January 2, 1920: Anti-Radical Raids Across the Country, the First Red Scare January 2, 1920: Anti-Radical Raids Across the Country, the First Red Scare
After World War I, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer led a campaign to arrest, imprison and deport thousands of supposedly subversive political radicals. Almost 1,000 people were...
Jan 2, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
January 1, 1959: Fidel Castro Seizes Power in Cuba January 1, 1959: Fidel Castro Seizes Power in Cuba
Unless you have been violently evicted from your country’s presidential palace, you are already having a better new year than Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was having at this p...
Jan 1, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
Introducing ‘The Almanac’: This Day in ‘Nation’ History Introducing ‘The Almanac’: This Day in ‘Nation’ History
Andrew Johnson’s and Bill Clinton’s impeachment trials; obituaries for Theodore Roosevelt, Vladimir Lenin and Winston Churchill; the beginnings of the Prague Spring and...
Dec 23, 2014 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
Détente With Cuba: Just About Freaking Time Détente With Cuba: Just About Freaking Time
The history of US-Cuban relations in the last fifty-five years is the history of the loss of American prestige.
Dec 17, 2014 / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues
Lynching Is Torture and Torture Is Lynching Lynching Is Torture and Torture Is Lynching
Alexander Cockburn, Jonathan Schell and others on “the habit of torture,” baked into society itself.
Dec 15, 2014 / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Rutherford B. Hayes (but Forgot To Ask) Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Rutherford B. Hayes (but Forgot To Ask)
Americans today are a lot more familiar with his presidency than they think they are.
Dec 3, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues
This Is the First Article We Ever Published About the Internet This Is the First Article We Ever Published About the Internet
Authors Kevin Cooke and Dan Lehrer accurately foresaw in 1993 the debate over net neutrality we’re having today.
Nov 19, 2014 / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues
No, the Demolition of the Berlin Wall Was Not the End of Socialism No, the Demolition of the Berlin Wall Was Not the End of Socialism
“Socialism is inseparable from democracy,” The Nation wrote in its 1989 editorial.
Nov 10, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues
‘Toward a New Beginning’: Lessons and Parallels From the GOP Rout of 1946 ‘Toward a New Beginning’: Lessons and Parallels From the GOP Rout of 1946
“Let us not fool ourselves in this hour of appraisal…”
Nov 5, 2014 / Richard Kreitner and Back Issues