The Conversation

You should talk about politics this Thanksgiving – here's why, and how

Written by Stacy Branham, Lecturer of Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Seek to truly connect with each other at Thanksgiving.Group feast via shutterstock.com

After one of the most divisive presidential elections in American history, many of us may be anxious about dinner-table dialogue with family and friends this Thanksgiving. There is no denying that the way we communicate about politics has fundamentally changed...

Have reports of Black Friday's death been greatly exaggerated?

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

Black Friday is hyped as one of the biggest in-store shopping days of the year, with stores trumpeting giant sales and even bigger advertising campaigns.

Some pundits claim that Black Friday is dying and is no longer relevant. However, the National Retail Federation issued a strong denunciation of these articles and declared that Black Friday is...

Why we have globalization to thank for Thanksgiving

Written by Farok J. Contractor, Distinguished Professor of Management & Global Business, Rutgers University

As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving Day feasts, some may recall the story of the “Pilgrim Fathers” who founded one of the first English settlements in North America in 1620, at what is today the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The history we know is one of English settlers seeking religious freedom in a New World but instead fi...

The seeds of the alt-right, America's emergent right-wing populist movement

Written by George Michael, Professor of Criminal Justice, Westfield State University

Clockwise, from left: White nationalist William Pence, domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh, white nationalist Richard Spencer, British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos, professor Kevin MacDonald, and Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart.Nick Lehr/The Conversation, CC BY-NC-SA

In recent months, far-right activists – which some have labeled the...

What's the history of sanctuary spaces and why do they matter?

Written by Elizabeth Allen, Associate Professor of English, University of California, Irvine

In the wake of the election of Donald Trump as president, faculty, students and alumni across the country are pressuring their administrations to declare “sanctuary campuses” for undocumented students, workers and their families.

Trump has said he would repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). Under the program,...

Why the Democrats won't win the House in 2018

Written by Anthony McGann, Professor of Government and Public Policy, Strathclyde University

The result of the presidential election may have taken some people by surprise, but the fact that Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives was completely predictable.

Republicans would have retained the House almost regardless of who voters supported for president, barring an improbable landslide. As we argue in our book “G...

Why kids younger than 12 don't need OTC cough and cold remedies

Written by Edward Bell, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Drake University

Little boy with a cold. From www.shutterstock.com

The common cold season is here, and if you have children, you will likely feel their suffering from these annoying upper respiratory tract viral infections. Children experience more colds, about six to 10 annually, than adults. With each cold producing symptoms of nasal congestion, runny nose, cough...

With waning US leadership on climate, nonstate actors to play outsize role

Written by Kenneth Shockley, Associate Professor and Holmes Rolston III Professor of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, Colorado State University

Civil society and other groups, such as academics and businesses, stand to play a bigger role in how the countries of the world address climate change.Photo by IISD/ENB | Liz Rubin

Until recently, the international climate negotiation process revolved strictly around high-level conversations between nation states. However, this is changing in a way...

How much should air traffic controllers trust new flight management systems?

Written by Tannaz Mirchi, Human Factors Engineer, Lecturer in Psychology, California State University, Long Beach

With airfares at their lowest point in seven years and airlines adding capacity, this year’s Thanksgiving air travel is slated to be 2.5 percent busier than last year. Between Nov. 18 and 29, 27.3 million Americans are expected to take to the skies.

The system we use to coordinate all those flights carrying all those Thanksgiving travelers...

The two men who almost derailed New England's first colonies

Written by Peter C. Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Jennie A. Brownscombe's 'The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth' (1914).Wikimedia Commons

There is no holiday more American than Thanksgiving – and perhaps none with origins so shrouded in comforting myths.

The story is simple enough. In 1620 a group of English Protestant dissenters known as Pilgrims arrived in what’s now Massachusetts to...