Heather Cox Richardson, historian

"What's past is prologue," Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest, and how right he was. By reading and learning about our history, we begin to understand why today is happening. Heather Cox Richardson, a professor of American history at Boston College, writes her daily Letters from an American to set the events of the day in context and connect the dots between past and present. It's my first read every morning, before I tackle the newspapers. Subscriptions are free, and if you want more, she also has a weekly podcast, Now and Then, on Tuesdays.