HC
Heather Cox Richardson
PoliticsCultureEconomics & Policy
Professor of American history at Boston College and author of Letters from an American, a nightly Substack newsletter placing today's political events in the sweep of U.S. history. With over 2.6 million subscribers, it is one of the most-read independent newsletters in the country. Richardson earned her PhD at Harvard and has written seven books covering the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the American West. Named to TIME100 Creators 2025 and called 'the most successful independent journalist in America' by the New York Times, she remains fully independent on Substack.
Known for
- Launched Letters from an American in 2019, growing it to 2.6 million+ subscribers — one of the largest independent newsletters in the world
- Named 'the most successful independent journalist in America' by the New York Times and included in TIME100 Creators 2025
- Published 'Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America' (2023), a bestselling account of threats to American democracy
- Author of 'How the South Won the Civil War' (2020) and 'To Make Men Free' (2014), tracing American oligarchy and democratic backsliding
Recent posts
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