History

History articles provide critical analysis of historical context in relation to censorship, policy, technology, media, economics, social life, public health, and individual liberty.

We explore recurring themes such as pandemic profit motives, medical thinking collapse, ignored warnings, industry capture of regulation, government restrictions on freedom, societal cowardice in crises, addiction politics, plus pathways to restore truth, wisdom, and human-centered systems.

All history articles from Brownstone Institute are translated into multiple languages to enable global access, encourage international dialogue on historical lessons, and support readers worldwide in applying past insights to defend liberty and challenge overreach.

No, Niall Ferguson, Travel and Trade Improved Health

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Are we killing ourselves through our cosmopolitan bustle of business, technology, immigration, cultural exchange, agriculture, and exogamous sex? The distinguished historian and transatlantic pundit-philosopher Niall Ferguson says so in this laboriously learned, encyclopedic catalogue, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. 

No, Niall Ferguson, Travel and Trade Improved Health Continue Reading

Covid Chaos and the Collapse of European Unity

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

No matter how much the public narrative tries to ignore it, no matter how much the media attempts to suppress serious discussion, critical voices are becoming louder by the day. Ever more people in both the old and the new Europe are demanding their fundamental rights and freedoms back.

Covid Chaos and the Collapse of European Unity Continue Reading

These Travel Restrictions Must End 

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

International tourist arrivals are down by 85% from 2019. A third of the world’s borders are shut. There seems to be no movement in the direction of reversing this disaster and reinstituting the wonderful world of 2019. In fact, there seems to be very little awareness that this has happened to us much less of the terrible consequences. Forget the freedom of movement; the Biden administration has only promised to open up “when it is safe to do so.” 

These Travel Restrictions Must End  Continue Reading

The Polio Pandemic of 1949-52: No Closures, No Restrictions

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

A health official said of the polio epidemic: “Nobody can shut down intercourse of people in communities.” Our rights survived. So did human liberty, free enterprise, the Bill of Rights, jobs, and the American way of life. And then polio was eventually beat. 

The Polio Pandemic of 1949-52: No Closures, No Restrictions Continue Reading

The Religious Institutions Should Never Have Acquiesced to Lockdowns

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

At a time of crisis, such as during a pandemic, is exactly when such institutions are even more needed than ever, and when faced with uncertainty, many seek the comfort and support of religious institutions.Yet during the pandemic and the lockdowns, religious institutions were only too willing to shut themselves down, close their doors, and therefore abandon those that depended on them. 

The Religious Institutions Should Never Have Acquiesced to Lockdowns Continue Reading

Covid and the Madness of Crowds

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Their singular obsession, emotional intensity, and size lead to crowds sometimes attaining great power and dictating directions that can change the course of history for a whole country, or even for the world. The inherent danger is that their obsession blinds them to everything else that matters in normal times.

Covid and the Madness of Crowds Continue Reading

Segregation

Racial Segregation and Vaccine Passports: Ominous Parallels

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

Today, you won’t find people in polite society who have kind things to say about the eugenic theory of social organization, at least not in public. But as vaccine passports and their disparate impact reveal, it turns out to be strangely easy to manufacture a public health excuse – drawing on the primal fear of infection and disease – to recreate what amounts to the same structure with an excuse that is different only in its details but not in its impact on the social order. 

Racial Segregation and Vaccine Passports: Ominous Parallels Continue Reading

The Great Covid Panic, by Frijters, Foster, and Baker. Available Now.

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

The Brownstone Institute is pleased to announce the impending publication of The Great Covid Panic: What Happened, Why, and What To Do Next, by Paul Frijters, Gigi Foster, and Michael Baker. Combining rigorous scholarship with evocative and accessible prose, the book covers all the issues central to the pandemic and the disastrous policy response, a narrative as comprehensive as it is intellectually devastating. In short, this is THE book the world needs right now. 

The Great Covid Panic, by Frijters, Foster, and Baker. Available Now. Continue Reading

The World Health Organization Oversold the Vaccine and Deprecated Natural Immunity

SHARE | PRINT | EMAIL

One hopes that the WHO in the future will stick to science rather than allow its once-vaunted reputation to be manipulated and abused by political and industrial interests that do not have the best interests of the public in mind. 

The World Health Organization Oversold the Vaccine and Deprecated Natural Immunity Continue Reading

Join the Brownstone Community
Get our FREE Journal Newsletter