Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial military conflicts in American history. It pitted the North against the South and ended in an unstable settlement that is still coming to terms with nearly fifty years later. The war had many contributing factors, but its primary cause lay in political maneuvering rather than regional […]

The 1960s in America were a time of great change. The country was going through enormous social and political upheaval, and the 1960s were a time of revolution for the nation. Many significant events took place during the decade, but one of them stood above the others: the Civil Rights Movement. The decade witnessed several […]

The 1950s marked the beginning of America’s second decade of the century. It was also a decade that served as a great testing ground for how the rest of America would respond to changes in the world. The growing tensions with the Soviet Union and the communist bloc Europe over their ideologies and policies, especially […]

World War II was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world’s nations, including the United States, Germany, China, and the Soviet Union. The war pitted two opposing ideologies against each other: communism and fascism. World War II resulted in a victory for the Allies, who […]

The Great Depression was a devastating economic downturn in the 1930s that brought about massive unemployment and shook the world economy. It started in the U.S. and quickly spread across the globe. The economy had been booming for about a decade before the crisis hit. Then, after so many years of prosperity, almost everything collapsed […]

The Roaring Twenties in America was an era of prosperity and progressive thinking. The decade saw the rise of jazz and blues, as well as a new type of poetry that would soon be referred to as jazz writing. It was also an era in which women gained many rights and began to challenge male […]

The outbreak of World War I in Europe in July 1914 was a shock to Americans. The United States had remained neutral in the conflict, but with Germany and its allies mobilizing for war, the prospect of involvement seemed increasingly likely. There was widespread support for entering the war to prevent it from spreading and […]

When the American Civil War broke out in April of 1861, it was a shock to the entire nation. Southerners had been agitating for secession for some time before this, but as a unified country with a relatively common culture, most Northerners were shocked at this act of civil disobedience and reacted strongly. The war […]

The American Constitution is one of the most influential documents in modern world history. Its influence, however, goes beyond its immediate impact in the United States and elsewhere. The Constitution has had a profound effect on the development of modern democracy and human rights around the world. This article explores how the Constitution came to […]

The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement that announced American independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. After a lengthy debate, the Continental Congress issued this declaration on July 4, 1776. The Declaration detailed the rights that Colonial Americans claimed to enjoy under British law and as free men. These rights included the […]