The Editors of The Nation have chosen our most insightful articles on a number of historic episodes since the magazine’s founding in 1865 and compiled them into History Packs you can download instantly. These convenient and affordable History Packs are a boon to educators, parents, students, researchers, writers, historians or anyone looking to get a unique contemporaneous perspective on an important event in American and world history. Check this page regularly for new Packs!	Post-Civil War Reconstruction Purchase \| More Info The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the same year The Nation was born, and the plight of the freedmen quickly became one of the new journal’s first causes. The articles in this pack represent an invaluable primary resource with: firsthand accounts of the ways blacks and whites dealt with racial issues after the war in South Carolina and Richmond, Virginia; reports of an attack on a black man and his white wife in Connecticut and an effort to give wages back to former slaves; an article on the obstacles and options facing President Johnson as he attempts to carry out Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction plan; editorials on labor shortages in Maryland, Virginia, and DC as freedmen drift back to their former homes in the deep south, plus a proposal for conciliation. 8 selections in all. The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Purchase \| More Info A hot-tempered and impolitic Democrat in a period when anti-slavery Republicans were the dominant political faction, the seventeenth President in 1868 nearly became the first to be impeached by Congress. This pack includes: articles comparing Johnson to his predecessor and speculating on the likely impact of the trial; editorials expressing disapproval of Johnson’s policies and his impeachment as well, reporting rumors that the President might use force against Congress, and analyzing opening and closing speeches at the trial. 22 selections in all. The Sacco and Vanzetti Case Purchase \| More Info Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, “the good shoemaker and the poor fish peddler,” were arrested, convicted, and ultimately executed in 1927 for the theft of a shoe company payroll in South Braintree, Massachusetts, following a seven-year trial that tarnished America’s reputation for justice throughout the world. This historic pack features: articles examining the trial, the evidence, and the personalities of the defendants; reactions to the trial from members of the Industrial Workers of the World; editorials noting a claim of coercion by a prosecution witness and the exculpatory testimony of a prosecution ballistics expert; plus a letter from Anatole France calling for justice. 9 selections in all. The Scopes Trial Purchase \| More Info In this famous case defining the separation of church and state, a biology teacher named John T. Scopes challenged a Tennessee state law passed that March in 1925 forbidding the teaching of any theory of creation that ran counter to what was written in the Bible. The Nation was on the scene at the “Monkey Trial” in Dayton, and this exciting pack includes: reports on the defense strategy by one of Scopes’s attorneys, plus public opinion among local citizens; profiles on prosecution witness William Jennings Bryan and defense attorney Clarence Darrow; an editorial decrying attempts by the church to suppress the search for scientific truth; and commentary on the trial by H. L. Mencken. 8 selections in all. Back to top The Scottsboro Case Purchase \| More Info When the Chattanooga freight train pulled into Memphis on March 25, 1931, nine young blacks, men and boys both, were charged with raping two white women, initiating a series of events that gave birth to the modern civil rights movement. This memorable pack includes: firsthand accounts of the trial and retrials in Decatur, Alabama; an interview with one of the prisoners, who testifies to the naked racism expressed by the Decatur sheriff and his guards; letters on behalf of the defendants from John Dos Passos and one of the defendants himself; editorials following the twists and turns of the case until 1939; and finally an account of the pardon of the last Scottsboro defendant by Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1976. 28 selections in all. The Roots of the Vietnam War Purchase \| More Info The Vietnam War cost nearly 50,000 American lives and created deep divides in this country that have only been opened again by the war in Iraq. This fascinating pack travels back to 1947, when the roots of America’s first military defeat took hold. Highlights include: the historical background for the conflict between France and the Viet Minh rebels led by Ho Chi Minh; reports on France’s losing efforts in both the military and political arenas; accounts stating that Ho was a nationalist, not under Moscow’s control; plus an editorial suggesting that the aid the Viet Minh received from China enabled the US to falsely label their fight as being about Communist aggression. 9 selections in all. The ‘Brown’ Decision Purchase \| More Info The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954 was a landmark victory for equal rights in America, a unanimous verdict that “separate but equal” was inherently unequal. This pack includes: articles on the legal and constitutional history of equal protection in the US, plus the way psychological evidence was used in court to demonstrate the emotional toll that segregation takes on both black and white children; the story of a dean at the University of South Carolina who was fired from his job for expressing support for integration; state-by-state assessments of the status of integration in the South; plus editorials decrying the “Dixiecrat Manifesto” and predicting the need to call in troops to quell anti-integration violence. 9 selections in all. Back to top All Eyes on Little Rock Purchase \| More Info In September 1957, nine African-American teenagers from Little Rock, Arkansas declared their intentions to enroll in an all-white high school, sparking a battle between Governor Orval E. Faubus, who called out the National Guard to prevent the nine from enrolling, and President Eisenhower, who called in the US Army to make sure the students could enroll. This momentous pack includes: reports on the determination of Southern blacks to overcome white resistance to the civil rights movement, plus the silence of whites who didn’t oppose integration; accounts of people standing up to Faubus’s threats and abuse; an examination of Chief Justice Earl Warren’s newfound progressive stance; and an analysis of the similarities between blacks living in segregated Little Rock and suffering under apartheid in South Africa. 9 selections in all. The Hiss-Chambers Case Purchase \| More Info The watershed case of the McCarthy period, in which Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor of Time magazine, named as a Communist Alger Hiss, a former State Department official under FDR who was then President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Highlights of this provocative pack include: eyewitness reports of the dramatic confrontations between Hiss and Chambers before the House Un-American Committee in 1948 and at the perjury trial; an analysis of the implications that an espionage operation had penetrated the New Deal; a review of a book disputing the assertion that FDR subverted American interests at Yalta; plus editorials decrying the partisan nature of the dispute. 9 selections in all. The Montgomery Bus Boycott Purchase \| More Info When an African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white man in 1955, it ignited a boycott of the city bus system by the black community that lasted 381 days, causing the city staggering financial losses and launching the modern civil rights movement under the leadership of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Highlights of this indelible pack include: reports on race justice in Aiken and the citizens councils enforcing segregation, plus the city government’s efforts to undermine the boycott; a firsthand account of the Emmet Till murder trial showing the courage of some Montgomery citizens, plus a rally at which Senator James Eastland leads an attack on integrationists. 13 selections in all. Back to top The Watergate Scandal Purchase \| More Info In 1974, Richard Nixon became the first US President to resign his office, after Oval Office tape recordings made it clear that he plotted the coverup of his Administration’s connection to the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This dramatic pack includes: reports on the burglars and the higher-ups behind their actions; a compendium of the Nixon Administration’s more questionable statements about Watergate; an examination of the role the press played both in uncovering the scandal and convincing the public of its gravity; an examination of the “Enemies Project”, in which the Nixon Administration wanted to use the IRS to harass its political and cultural enemies; plus editorials on Gerald Ford as Vice President and Nixon’s famous “I’m Not a Crook” declaration of innocence. 24 selections in all.

The Editors of The Nation have chosen our most insightful articles on a number of historic episodes since the magazine’s founding in 1865 and compiled them into History Packs you can download instantly.

These convenient and affordable History Packs are a boon to educators, parents, students, researchers, writers, historians or anyone looking to get a unique contemporaneous perspective on an important event in American and world history.

Check this page regularly for new Packs!

Post-Civil War Reconstruction

Purchase | More Info

The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, the same year The Nation was born, and the plight of the freedmen quickly became one of the new journal’s first causes. The articles in this pack represent an invaluable primary resource with: firsthand accounts of the ways blacks and whites dealt with racial issues after the war in South Carolina and Richmond, Virginia; reports of an attack on a black man and his white wife in Connecticut and an effort to give wages back to former slaves; an article on the obstacles and options facing President Johnson as he attempts to carry out Abraham Lincoln’s reconstruction plan; editorials on labor shortages in Maryland, Virginia, and DC as freedmen drift back to their former homes in the deep south, plus a proposal for conciliation. 8 selections in all.

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Purchase | More Info

A hot-tempered and impolitic Democrat in a period when anti-slavery Republicans were the dominant political faction, the seventeenth President in 1868 nearly became the first to be impeached by Congress. This pack includes: articles comparing Johnson to his predecessor and speculating on the likely impact of the trial; editorials expressing disapproval of Johnson’s policies and his impeachment as well, reporting rumors that the President might use force against Congress, and analyzing opening and closing speeches at the trial. 22 selections in all.

The Sacco and Vanzetti Case

Purchase | More Info

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, “the good shoemaker and the poor fish peddler,” were arrested, convicted, and ultimately executed in 1927 for the theft of a shoe company payroll in South Braintree, Massachusetts, following a seven-year trial that tarnished America’s reputation for justice throughout the world. This historic pack features: articles examining the trial, the evidence, and the personalities of the defendants; reactions to the trial from members of the Industrial Workers of the World; editorials noting a claim of coercion by a prosecution witness and the exculpatory testimony of a prosecution ballistics expert; plus a letter from Anatole France calling for justice. 9 selections in all.

The Scopes Trial

Purchase | More Info

In this famous case defining the separation of church and state, a biology teacher named John T. Scopes challenged a Tennessee state law passed that March in 1925 forbidding the teaching of any theory of creation that ran counter to what was written in the Bible. The Nation was on the scene at the “Monkey Trial” in Dayton, and this exciting pack includes: reports on the defense strategy by one of Scopes’s attorneys, plus public opinion among local citizens; profiles on prosecution witness William Jennings Bryan and defense attorney Clarence Darrow; an editorial decrying attempts by the church to suppress the search for scientific truth; and commentary on the trial by H. L. Mencken. 8 selections in all.

The Scottsboro Case

Purchase | More Info

When the Chattanooga freight train pulled into Memphis on March 25, 1931, nine young blacks, men and boys both, were charged with raping two white women, initiating a series of events that gave birth to the modern civil rights movement. This memorable pack includes: firsthand accounts of the trial and retrials in Decatur, Alabama; an interview with one of the prisoners, who testifies to the naked racism expressed by the Decatur sheriff and his guards; letters on behalf of the defendants from John Dos Passos and one of the defendants himself; editorials following the twists and turns of the case until 1939; and finally an account of the pardon of the last Scottsboro defendant by Alabama Governor George Wallace in 1976. 28 selections in all.

The Roots of the Vietnam War

Purchase | More Info

The Vietnam War cost nearly 50,000 American lives and created deep divides in this country that have only been opened again by the war in Iraq. This fascinating pack travels back to 1947, when the roots of America’s first military defeat took hold. Highlights include: the historical background for the conflict between France and the Viet Minh rebels led by Ho Chi Minh; reports on France’s losing efforts in both the military and political arenas; accounts stating that Ho was a nationalist, not under Moscow’s control; plus an editorial suggesting that the aid the Viet Minh received from China enabled the US to falsely label their fight as being about Communist aggression. 9 selections in all.

The ‘Brown’ Decision

Purchase | More Info

The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954 was a landmark victory for equal rights in America, a unanimous verdict that “separate but equal” was inherently unequal. This pack includes: articles on the legal and constitutional history of equal protection in the US, plus the way psychological evidence was used in court to demonstrate the emotional toll that segregation takes on both black and white children; the story of a dean at the University of South Carolina who was fired from his job for expressing support for integration; state-by-state assessments of the status of integration in the South; plus editorials decrying the “Dixiecrat Manifesto” and predicting the need to call in troops to quell anti-integration violence. 9 selections in all.

All Eyes on Little Rock

Purchase | More Info

In September 1957, nine African-American teenagers from Little Rock, Arkansas declared their intentions to enroll in an all-white high school, sparking a battle between Governor Orval E. Faubus, who called out the National Guard to prevent the nine from enrolling, and President Eisenhower, who called in the US Army to make sure the students could enroll. This momentous pack includes: reports on the determination of Southern blacks to overcome white resistance to the civil rights movement, plus the silence of whites who didn’t oppose integration; accounts of people standing up to Faubus’s threats and abuse; an examination of Chief Justice Earl Warren’s newfound progressive stance; and an analysis of the similarities between blacks living in segregated Little Rock and suffering under apartheid in South Africa. 9 selections in all.

The Hiss-Chambers Case

Purchase | More Info

The watershed case of the McCarthy period, in which Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor of Time magazine, named as a Communist Alger Hiss, a former State Department official under FDR who was then President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Highlights of this provocative pack include: eyewitness reports of the dramatic confrontations between Hiss and Chambers before the House Un-American Committee in 1948 and at the perjury trial; an analysis of the implications that an espionage operation had penetrated the New Deal; a review of a book disputing the assertion that FDR subverted American interests at Yalta; plus editorials decrying the partisan nature of the dispute. 9 selections in all.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Purchase | More Info

When an African-American seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white man in 1955, it ignited a boycott of the city bus system by the black community that lasted 381 days, causing the city staggering financial losses and launching the modern civil rights movement under the leadership of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Highlights of this indelible pack include: reports on race justice in Aiken and the citizens councils enforcing segregation, plus the city government’s efforts to undermine the boycott; a firsthand account of the Emmet Till murder trial showing the courage of some Montgomery citizens, plus a rally at which Senator James Eastland leads an attack on integrationists. 13 selections in all.

The Watergate Scandal

Purchase | More Info

In 1974, Richard Nixon became the first US President to resign his office, after Oval Office tape recordings made it clear that he plotted the coverup of his Administration’s connection to the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. This dramatic pack includes: reports on the burglars and the higher-ups behind their actions; a compendium of the Nixon Administration’s more questionable statements about Watergate; an examination of the role the press played both in uncovering the scandal and convincing the public of its gravity; an examination of the “Enemies Project”, in which the Nixon Administration wanted to use the IRS to harass its political and cultural enemies; plus editorials on Gerald Ford as Vice President and Nixon’s famous “I’m Not a Crook” declaration of innocence. 24 selections in all.