World History

Damascus has fallen.

The original Mont Pelerin Society meeting in 1947 featured Ludwig von Mises, whose warnings about the dangers of socialism and totalitarianism had gone unheeded. In the wreckage of World War II, the truth of his message should have been obvious. It wasn't.

While most of us know George Orwell as an authoritative critic of totalitarianism, few people know he was a committed socialist and a lifelong defender of communist Leon Trotsky. While he understood totalitarianism, he never understood socialism.

A modern misconception of antebellum slavery is that it “built the country.” Actually, the institution of slavery, economically speaking, was a deadweight loss to the US economy.

There is no such thing as leftist nationalism since all nationalism is leftist by nature.

The US went to war 83 years ago today with Japan‘s attack on Pearl Harbor. It ended with Japan‘s surrender after US bombers dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The myth lives on to this day that the bombs ended the war prematurely, saving millions of lives.

Marx is often portrayed as motivated by love of the working class, but, starting from the time he was a university student, he displayed contempt and hatred for the masses he deemed beneath him.

Tariffs don‘t just raise consumer prices. They also affect capital flows and, on numerous occasions, have triggered stock market crises. What tariffs don‘t bring is prosperity.

Modern “antiracist” historians have pursued the myth that the virtuous North engaged in warfare with the South in order to free slaves and end chattel slavery. The historical record, however, tells a much different story.

In this episode, Ryan McMaken takes a look at how the domestic and commercial rituals of the Thanksgiving holiday are things that communists really don‘t like.