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America's Devastating First Plague and the Birth of Epidemiology

In the 1790s a plague struck the new American nation and killed thousands. Noah Webster told the story of pandemics and invented a field.
Illustration of six books on the topic of pandemics

COVID-19 and the Outbreak Narrative

Outbreak narratives from past diseases can be influential in the way we think about the COVID pandemic.
Sign noting that spitting spreads the Spanish flu.

Trapped on a Ship During a Pandemic

“Either they’ve got no conscience, or they’re not awake to the gravity of the situation.”
New Yorkers including Hasidic Jews walk by an outdoor tent erected as a waiting area for an urgent care clinic.
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Deep Political Fissures May Worsen the Coronavirus Outbreak

If partisans see problems and potential solutions through a political lens, it will weaken our response.
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Fear Itself

We're not generally at our best when frightened. It's no surprise, then, that some of the ugliest episodes in American history (but also, some pretty great films) have been driven by fear.

The Seminal Novel About the 1918 Flu Pandemic Was Written by a Texan

Katherine Anne Porter’s ‘Pale Horse, Pale Rider’ tells the tale of a pandemic she barely survived.
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Surviving a Pandemic, in 1918

A century ago, Catholic nuns from Philadelphia recalled what it was like to tend to the needy and the sick during the great influenza pandemic of 1918.
Cars and buildings sink into the fault line of the Alaska earthquake.

In a Disaster, Humans Can Behave … Pretty Well, Actually

In his new book, Jon Mooallem tells the story of the Great Alaska Earthquake and Genie Chance, the woman whose voice on the radio held everyone together.

John Sherman’s Struggle to Preserve Democracy

This is not the first time that democratic governance appeared to be under assault.

History in a Crisis - Lessons for Covid-19

The history of epidemics offers considerable advice, but only if people know the history and respond with wisdom.

The Coronavirus Is No 1918 Pandemic

The differences between the global response to the Great Flu Pandemic and today’s COVID-19 outbreak could not be more striking.
William F. Buckley, Jr. being interviewed on What’s Happening Mr. Silver.
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On the Right: NET and Modern Conservatism

In the 1960s, the precursor to PBS explored the burgeoning conservative movement, providing a remarkable window into the history of conservatism.
Martin Luther King Jr. with children.

Martin Luther King Jr. on Making America Great Again

Applying King to our contemporary moment.

A Meditation on Natural Light and the Use of Fire in United States Slavery

Responding to “Race and the Paradoxes of the Night,” by Celeste Henery.
Cover of "Speaking with the Dead in Early America" by Erik R. Seeman

Speaking with the Dead in Early America

A new book recovers the many ways Protestant Americans, especially women, communicated with the dead from the 17th century to the rise of séance Spiritualism.

The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset

More than simple racism, the destructive premise at the core of the American settler narrative is that freedom is built upon violent elimination.
Black girls exiting a school building accompanied by U.S. Marshalls.

First Day of School—1960, New Orleans

Leona Tate thought it must be Mardi Gras. Gail thought they were going to kill her.

An Early Case For Reparations

Two new books tell the stories of people kidnapped and sold into slavery. One of them sued successfully.
Lost World movie poster
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The 1925 Dinosaur Movie That Paved the Way for King Kong

During a slow day at work, a young marble cutter named Willis O’Brien began sculpting tiny T-Rex figurines.
Panorama of the Iroquois Theater after the fire, 1903. Photograph by Henry Albert Ericson.

Fire!

A brief history of theater fires in New York City—and the regulations that helped people escape them.
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When New Yorkers Burned Down a Quarantine Hospital

On September 1st, 1858, a mob stormed the New York Marine Hospital in Staten Island, and set fire to the building.

Candy Land Was Invented for Polio Wards

A schoolteacher created the popular board game, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, for quarantined children.
Image of Sergeant Pete Thibodeau during the War on Terror.

The Sum of All Beards

How did facial hair win American men’s hearts and minds? Thank the War on Terror.
Daveed Diggs and Lin Manuel Miranda on stage in the musical Hamilton.

Notes Toward an Essay on Imagining Thomas Jefferson Watching a Performance of the Musical "Hamilton"

"But he'd have to acknowledge that the soul of his country is southern; the soul of his country is black."
Rod Serling at the typewriter, at his Westport, Connecticut, home in 1956.

An Early Run-In With Censors Led Rod Serling to 'The Twilight Zone'

His failed attempts to bring the Emmett Till tragedy to television forced him to get creative.

Black Farmworkers in the Central Valley: Escaping Jim Crow for a Subtler Kind of Racism

"The difference between here and the South is just that — it's hidden."

America’s Most Famous Family Feuds

Many of America’s most notorious feuds have their roots in the Civil War.
Title page of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense."
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Anonymous Criticism Helped Make America Great

Trump’s critic is utilizing a practice employed by many of the Founding Fathers to protect truth from power.
Dillingham Commission members.

The 41-Volume Government Report That Turned Immigration into a Problem

In 1911, the Dillingham Commission set a half-century precedent for screening out 'undesirable' newcomers.

'What Soldiers Are for': Jersey Boys Wait for War

Essays published in a high school paper reflect the boys' efforts to prepare themselves for fighting in the Civil War.
Title screen of the film "1983: The Brink of Apocalypse."

Standing on the Brink: The Secret War Scare of 1983

Remembering a time when a toxic cocktail of threats, fear, and misunderstanding nearly led us down the path to Armageddon.

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