A century and a half after the Civil War, Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked his city to reexamine its past—and to wrestle with hard truths.

Don’t let the art of democracy go out of fashion.

In 1861, the grandson of John Quincy Adams argued that slavery could still end without war.

What romance can teach us about the right way to wage war

His idea that the country’s interests and its values are two separate things—the first mandatory, the second optional—reflects a misreading of the past.

Honoring the cause while confronting and remembering sacrifice can be a complicated endeavor.