Facing Our Collective Wounds With Generous Hope

Historian William Sturkey Reflects on Confronting Our Dark Past, and Moving Forward

I’ve felt the power of reconciliation wash over me. I felt it at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery and at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. I felt it when a family of Black descendants approached me at a book talk, with tears in their eyes, to hug and thank me for telling their family’s story in my book Hattiesburg. It is a feeling that inspires wholeness, human connectedness, historical justice, and internal peace.

And so I was eager—and tremendously honored—when Zócalo Public Square asked me to moderate the events in …

Why Do We Want Ceasefires?

A 7th-Century Roman-Arab Conflict Shows the Power of Enduring Peace Treaties Over Temporary Truces

Why do we want a ceasefire?

This question is in the news as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, but the question is actually ancient. It reminds me, a historian …

A Playwright’s ‘Wait … What?’ Approach to Difficult History

Mining Shock and Disbelief to Connect Audiences With the Past, Present, and One Another

I’m often identified as someone who writes “issues” plays, but I’m less high-minded about my subject matter than I should probably admit. Generally, I don’t decide to write a play …

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

On Being’s Krista Tippett

The Word ‘Civil’ Remains So Fraught

Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times-bestselling author. After studying theology at Yale Divinity School, she launched the weekly public radio …

Environmental Activist and Hip-Hop Artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez (Xochimilco) | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

L.A. LGBT Center’s Phillip Picardi

I Let Passion Rule My Life

Phillip Picardi is the chief marketing and communications officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. His previous work in media includes digital editorial director at Teen Vogue, founder of them, …