The 21st Century Dilemmas: What Do We Face Now?

Explore the dilemmas that our society faces in the 21st century with these articles. Gain a deeper understanding of our society.

Are you looking to read more about the major events and issues that have been occurring in this 21st century? Here, you will find a variety of articles discussing the political, economic and social events of the millennium, along with podcasts from experts on contemporary topics.

2017 isn’t ‘1984’ – it’s stranger than Orwell imagined

John Broich, The Conversation 2017

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5-Year-Olds Work Farm Machinery, and Injuries Follow

Children are growing up driving large farm machines to help their families. Thousands are injured every year; many are killed.

Jack Healy, NY Times 2018

A Defense of Obama’s Middle East ‘Balancing Act’

From the Iraq drawdown to chemical weapons red lines to Russia’s war in Syria, a conversation with Robert Malley, the president’s top Middle East policy official.

Aaron David Miller, Foreign Policy 2016

A Journey Through a Land of Extreme Poverty: Welcome to America

The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation -“ and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation

Ed Pilkington, The Guardian 2017

A Tale of Two White Houses

The Confederacy had its own White House -two, actually

Kat Eschner, Smithsonian.com April 21, 2017

Almost Half of Natural World Heritage Sites Are Threatened by Criminal Activity

A WWF report found that illegal poaching, logging, and fishing impacts 45 percent of the designated locations

Brigit Katz smithsonian.com April 20, 2017

Angela Merkel and the History Book that Helped Inform Her Worldview

Jurgen Osterhammel’s The Transformation of the World left its mark on the German chancellor, judging by her recent decisions

Philip Oltermann, The Guardian 2016

Are We Going to Repeat the Tragic Folly of Our Ancestors?

Walter G. Moss, History News Network 2016

Before ‘Fake News’ Came False Prophecy

From medieval Britain to the present, fantastic stories speaking to readers’ darkest fears have proven capable of altering reality.

Eric Weiskott, The Atlantic 2016

Behind China’s $1 Trillion Plan to Shake Up the Economic Order

Jane Perlez and Yufan Huang, NY Times 2017

Britain’s view of its history ‘dangerous’, says former museum director

Neil MacGregor, once of British Museum, says Britain has focus on ‘sunny side’ rather than German-like appraisal of past

Kate Connolly, The Guardian 2016

By turning their back on free trade, Republicans are returning to their roots

President Trump is resurrecting an old strain of conservatism – but with a new, Trumpian twist.

Katherine Rye Jewell, Washington Post 2017

Can the ‘Secret Government’ Save Us?

A national security expert says professional bureaucrats held back Obama. Can they do the same to Donald Trump?

Leon Neyfakh, Slate 2016

Can’t escape politics today? Blame Rolling Stone

The magazine envisioned ‘lifestyle’ as the vehicle for remaking politics. Instead, politics shape every aspect of our lives.

Bruce J. Schulman, Washington Post 2017

Catalonia, Spain’s Biggest Problem

In the post-Civil War era, Spain’s problem with regional nationalism seemed dominated by Basque separatists. Yet, as recent events show, Barcelona is now the epicentre of the biggest issue facing the Madrid government – an issue with deep historical roots.

Andrew Dowling, History Today 2017

Database Tracks History Of U.S. Meddling In Foreign Elections

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks to Carnegie Mellon University researcher Dov Levin about his historical database that tracks U.S. involvement in meddling with foreign elections over the years.

NPR Politics 2016

Democracies end when they are too democratic

And right now, America is a breeding ground for tyranny.

Andrew Sullivan, NY Magazine 2016

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Does British History Matter Anymore? Reflections on Brexit

Dane Kennedy, History News Network 2016

Donald Trump and the Election of 1800

Many have drawn parallels between Donald Trump and Aaron Burr, who Alexander Hamilton described as’one of the most unprincipled men in the United States’. But a more useful, if surprising, comparison might be drawn with Thomas Jefferson.

Rhys Jones, History Today 2016

Extreme poverty returns to America

The U.N. finds growing numbers of Americans are living in the most impoverished circumstances. How did we get here?

Premilla Nadasen, Washington Post 2017

Fake news? That’s a very old story

Robert G. Parkinson, Washington Post 2016

Historians and Brexit: An opportunity missed?

A more nuanced conversation among historians of multiple perspectives might have improved the level of debate.

Paul Lay, History Today 2016

One of the first steps in tackling Detroit’s housing crisis? Mapping it

Kathy Orton, Washington Post 2016

Opinion | Confederate Statues and ‘Our’ History

Eric Foner, New York Times 2017

President Barack Obama’s Legacy: 10 Historians Weigh In

Time Staff, Time Magazine 2017

The forgotten story of European refugee camps in the Middle East

Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post 2016

The Nuclear Analogy

Peter Stearns, Stearns Blog, George Mason University

Victorians’ Fears About the Ills of Modern Technology Sounded a Lot Like Ours

Rebecca Onion, Slate 2016

The United States: Self-Taught Activism

Johann N. Neem, Perspectives on History 2016

This is how fascism comes to America

Robert Kagan, Washington Post 2016

A Long View of Policing in America

How we understand policing in the United States depends not only on what issues we focus on but also how far back we look. In this episode of History Talk, hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy sit down with the historians Marcus Nevius, Lilia Fernandez, and Clay Howard to take a longer and broader view of the matter.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

America’s Infrastructure Challenge

On this episode of History Talk, panelists Steven Conn, Bernadette Hanlon, and Clay Howard discuss the history of public investment in American infrastructure, how it has reached such a perilous state, and what it can tell us about changing conceptions of the common good.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Buying American Elections?

In the wake of the 2012 Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, Americans have worried over whether money really should equal free speech. Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they ask guests Paula Baker, Marc Horger, and Steven Conn about the influence of dollars on the ballot box in U.S. history.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Fault Lines: The Urban-Rural Divide in America

Explore the history of rural-urban conflicts with hosts Brenna Miller and Jessica Blissit as they speak with three experts on rural-urban relations: Steven Conn, Clay Howard, and Mark Partridge.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Honduras, Temporary Protected Status, and U.S. Policy

On this episode of History Talk, we zero in on Honduras, as hosts Brenna Miller and Jessica ViÃ±as-Nelson speak with two experts, Professors Dana Frank and Katherine Borland, to learn why so many Hondurans are seeking refuge in the U.S., the political, economic, and social challenges faced by people living in Honduras, and the dynamics of migration and U.S. foreign policy at the heart of today’s debates.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Jefferson Cowie on Deindustrialization, Trade, and the 2016 Presidential Election

On this episode of History Talk, host Patrick Potyondy interviews Jefferson Cowie, the James G. Stahlman Chair in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. Cowie has written extensively on American economic, racial, cultural, and political history, and is the author most recently of The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Native Sovereignty and the Dakota Access Pipeline

History Talk takes a look at the long-term patterns of Native American relations with the U.S. government. Hosts Jessica Blissit and Brenna Miller and guests David Nichols, Christine Ballengee Morris, and Daniel Rivers discuss the specific environmental and sovereignty concerns surrounding construction of the DAPL, as well as how this issue fits into the larger history of Native American treaties, resistance, and protests.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

North Korea: The Myth of a Hermit Kingdom

In this episode of History Talk, hosts Brenna Miller and Jessica Blissit speak with three experts on North Korea: Deborah Solomon, Mitchell Lerner, and Youngbae Hwang. Westerners tend to think of North Korea as an isolated “Hermit Kingdom” led by crazy dictators, but what is the view from inside Pyongyang?

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

Russia and the World

In this episode of History Talk, hosts Jessica Blissit and Brenna Miller talk to two experts – Stephen Norris and Gerry Hudson – about the Russian perspective on world affairs and the role that power, prestige, and influence play in shaping the country’s foreign objectives.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

The EU: Past, Present, and Future

On this episode of History Talk, Patrick and Mark sit down with Donald Hempson, Lauren Henry, and Chris Otter to discuss the history of the European Union, an organization that has united Europeans in ways that were almost unthinkable a century ago.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

The Long History of #MeToo

On this episode of History Talk, hosts Jessica Vinas-Nelson and Brenna Miller invite three experts -”Professors Treva Lindsey, Kimberly Hamlin, and Martha Chamallas – to discuss the social and legal histories of sexual assault and harassment in the US, past movements to fight it, and how the conversations going on today fit into the broader story of gender and sexual equality.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

The Long View of Sports Protests

While many lament the entrance of politics into their Sunday football, we speak with three historians and sports fansâ€”Hasan Jeffries, Robert Bennett, and Marc Horgerâ€”to discuss the long history of sports protests, why they are so controversial, and the historical issues at the heart of today’s conversation.

Origins, History Departments at The Ohio State University and Miami University

The Politics of Immigration in American History with Andrew Gyory

In this episode we talk with historian Andrew Gyory about the reasons that immigration became such a powerful political issue in the late 19th century, and how studying this period of history can help us better understand the politics of immigration in 2017.

Episode 68; The Road to Now

The War on Terror

This month, John Mueller, Andrew Bacevich, and Peter Mansoor discuss the War on Terror (a.k.a. the war formerly known as the War on Terror), the US response to terrorism following 9/11. In separate interviews, our guests address the origins of the war on terror and how it has developed over time; how the campaign against terror fits into broader historical patterns of US statecraft; and how public perceptions of terrorism have changed (or haven’t changed) since the events of Sept. 11, 2001.