Examining the forces that have made and remade America’s largest city, for good and ill.

From vast grids to winding suburbs, Americans have spent two centuries remaking the landscape around property.

The crisis of the university is its inability to be honest about the nature of its self-induced crisis. Its leaders or senior managers often share the perspectives of those who wish the university to ...

The papers held the key to his life’s work—and his legacy.

While pursuing his doctorate at Princeton, Dylan Gottlieb noticed that a large percentage of the undergraduates he taught in history classes were dead set on careers in Wall Street. Rather than lookin...

Interviewed by Ryan Reft In Cracked Foundations: Debt and Inequality in Suburban America, Michael Glass explores the growth of Long Island’s suburbs as a proxy for the nation. In particular, Glass …

Tracy ChapmanCabaret MetroChicago, ILMay 7, 1988** 24 BIT **Master recording generously loaned from the Aadam Jacobs Audio ArchiveSource:  Unknown mic &...

The war launched against Iran by the United States and Israel is a war of choice and of hubris. There is scarcely even...

Explore this post and more from the AskHistorians community

This issue features: "American Adolescence: Growth without Guardrails in the Gilded Age," "Cracked Foundations: Redlining in the Suburbs," "Thomas Willing: The Banker Who Made America," "The Rise and ...

If the Democratic discourse du jour pits populist socialism against technocratic “Abundance,” nobody seems to have told New York City voters. One the same day that a majority chose Zohran Mamdani to b...

Podcast Episode · Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast · 12/09/2025 · 43m

How debt and speculation financed the suburban American dream and led to today’s inequalitiesIn the popular imagination, the suburbs are synonymous with th...

Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.

A Book Talk with Michael R. Glass

Image and reality of New York City’s finances

The backlash against Trump's proposal reveals the characteristics of his base's reactionary housing politics.

New York’s incoming socialist mayor faces real fiscal constraints — but also real opportunities. With a strong tax base, modest reforms, and a clear political mandate, Zohran Mamdani has the tools to ...

Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.

Municipal bonds have become an unavoidable part of local governance—and their costs divide rich towns from poor ones.