Dead Kennedys in the West: The Politicized Punks of 1970s San Francisco

The new punk generation made the hippies look past their prime.
Illustration of WWI soldiers hiking thorugh a field; the painting uses light pastel colors and surrounds the soldiers with mist

On the Sexist Reception of Willa Cather’s World War I Novel

From Hemingway to Mencken, no one thought a woman could write about combat.
a blurry image of yahoo.com's home page

Should the National Register of Historic Places Apply to Websites?

Corporate motivation isn’t enough when it comes to digital preservation. Here’s a case for creating a National Register of Historic Places for websites.
Lewis Leary.

Alive With Ghosts Today

Lewis Leary, who volunteered in John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, later inspired poetry by Langston Hughes.

Why MLK Believed Jazz Was the Perfect Soundtrack for Civil Rights

Jazz, King declared, was the ability to take the “hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”

Pornotopia

In the mid-20th century, Playboy wasn't just an erotic magazine. It was an architectural movement as well.
Lost World movie poster

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.

What’s Left of Generation X

To be Gen X was to be disaffected from the consumer norms of the 1980s, but to be pessimistic about any chance for social transformation.

The Commercial Rise of Country Music During the Great Depression

The Depression was the gravitational pull that created country stars and their nationwide universe of listeners.
Two tacos.

The True Story of How National Taco Day Was Invented — Then Appropriated

As seemingly all of the American food media tripped over itself to create listicles around National Taco Day, I shook my head in disgust.

How Oscar Micheaux Challenged the Racism of Early Hollywood

The black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux was one of the first to make films for a black audience, a rebuke to racist movies like "The Birth of a Nation."

Made for Misfits: The Colorful History of the Black Leather Jacket

“Leather-laden outlaws struck fear into the hearts of civilians and cops alike, as they tore through towns with gleeful irreverence.”

Historical Fanfiction as Affective History Making

How online fandoms are allowing people to find themselves in the narrative.

How Isaac Hayes Changed Soul Music

The political rumblings beneath his 1969 album, "Hot Buttered Soul."

Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair

In the mid-1990s, Sarah McLachlan set out to prove a woman's place was center stage.

With a Brass Band Blaring, Artist Kehinde Wiley Goes Off to War with Confederate Statues

Kehinde Wiley unveils his new equestrian statue in Times Square. In December, it will be installed in Richmond, with those of Civil War generals nearby.

Black Sox Forever

Reflections on the centennial of America’s greatest sports scandal.

How War Made the Cigarette

A new book explores the tangled politics behind a global addiction.

Selling Slashers to Teen Girls

The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.

The Debt That All Cartoonists Owe to "Peanuts"

How Charles Schulz's classic strip shaped the comic medium.

The Vietnam Myth That Gave Us All Those ‘Rambo’ Movies

For decades, conspiracy theorists have clung to the fiction that thousands of soldiers are being held captive in Asia.
Protester at an "America First" rally.

The Great-Granddaddy of White Nationalism

Thomas Dixon’s racist discourse lurks in American politics and society even today.
Photograph of Roy Cohn sitting in a wooden brown and yellow upholstered chair.

Covering for Roy Cohn

A documentary about his life and circle is a study in complicity.
Drawing of a man and his donkey from the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, circa 1800s.

Americans Have Always Celebrated Hacks and Swindlers

In 19th-century New England, rule-breaking Yankees were a source of national pride.

On Eric Garner, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Police Brutality as American Tradition

“¿DEFACEMENT?,” Inspired by the 1983 Police Murder of Michael Stewart.

The End of the Golden Era of Chess

The recent passing of Pal Benko and Shelby Lyman draws the curtain on an American period that produced some of the game’s most sparkling play.

Mass Barbecue is the Invasive Species of Our Culinary Times

There's room for the haute and folk traditions but the market-driven style taking over is the most problematic.
Margaret Mead in front of a bookshelf, with a book in hand

How Cultural Anthropologists Redefined Humanity

A brave band of scholars set out to save us from racism and sexism. What happened?

California's Mexican-American History Is Disappearing Beneath White Paint

It’s surprisingly hard to protect beloved public art.

Teddy Roosevelt Hated Baseball

It was a struggle to even get the president to go to a game.