As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds across the globe, one lesson is emerging: markets are extremely fragile, and critically needed help will come not from business but from governments. Neoliberal pundits and conservative economists have insisted…

COVID-19 arrived, it started killing us, we had an American shutdown unprecedented in history. And as we maybe, just maybe, start edging our way out of it, we are almost certainly going to start altering…

With the stealth of a cat on the prowl, the young hunter ever so slowly inched his way through knee-high grass along the Neosho River, north of where Humboldt is today. His skin was deeply…

A hundred years ago, I’m guessing a few Iolans had threatened among themselves to tar and feather Dr. J.S. Sutcliffe, the Allen County Health Officer, who had the authority to determine how long the county…

The historian in me is fascinated by how Americans in crisis make use of the past to predict the future. To those inclined to look backward, the so-called Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 offers pundits…

The more we learn about COVID-19, the more likely it seems most of us will be voting by mail this fall.  Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah have long been voting by mail. California now…

Like most Americans, Julie Buckles, the owner of Honest Dog Books in tiny Bayfield, Wis., has had to be flexible in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Overnight, we went from hosting music, literary discussions…

Sen. Bernie Sanders is no longer running for president, but one of his ideas, “Medicare for All,” is more critical than ever. With more than 33 million Americans losing their jobs during the ongoing COVID-19…

By all accounts, my mother seemed way too young to die.  She was a busy bee, always involved in church and social functions. She and dad traveled the world. She was a tireless gardener. An…

Humans are magnificent creatures. Our great advantage is our cognitive ability that enables us to think, read, learn,  reason and remember. All of this, folks, sets the stage for a bit of self-analysis, though I…