Culture

How do we decide what the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, or indeed any symbol, really means?

How “Vaudeville’s worst act” fought for fame and respect on the stage.

A new documentary explores the infamous 1968 dispute between William Buckley and Gore Vidal.

Urban elites with a fancy hobby teamed up with rural farmers in a movement that transformed the country.

Hamilton is less a new vision of the past than a translation of the sacred stories of American civil religion into the vernacular.

The 1850s were a turning point for globalization, from telegraphs to colonization.

The history behind the photographs on Colin Kaepernick’s T-shirt.

Is blues music a thing of the past? A festival in Memphis featuring musicians of all ages and nationalities shouts an upbeat answer.

True Crime is having a renaissance with popular TV series and podcasts. But the history of the genre dates back much further.

How the Eighteenth Amendment fueled America’s taste for ice cream.

They called her ACM, but never, ever, to her face.

Two former anti-doping professionals think the fight against performance-enhancing drugs is doing more harm than good.

Since the 1920s, “highway hypnosis” has lulled drivers to disaster.

Behind the veil of middle-class acceptability, Archie comics shaped the conception of virtue in postwar America.

The roadside battle for people’s attention has been raging for more than a century.

Melissa Gilbert's lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of 'Little House on the Prairie.'

The seashore used to be a scary place, then it became a place of respite and vacation. What happened?

How a work of science fiction anticipated the coming of Trump.

How a South Asian immigrant became a Wyoming fast-food legend and received American citizenship - twice.

A history of horse racing, it's slang, and handicapping.

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom.

A series of illustrated children’s books endures as a classic. Was it also the author’s attempt to come out?

Why midcentury Americans believed the suburbs were making them sick.

Historian Isaac Campos traces the origins of the idea that marijuana causes violent madness…and finds the trail leads south, to Mexico.

"Texas Jailhouse Music" explores a time when Texas prisons promoted rehabilitation through a wildly successful radio show.

Americans tend to think of Walt Whitman as the embodiment of democracy and individualism, but have you ever considered Walt Whitman, the brand?

How American landscape painters, seen as old-fashioned and provincial, gained cultural power by glorifying expansionism.

Christian, criminal or cowardly? People once thought your hair could hold the answer.

D&D attracted millions of players, along with accusations by some religious figures that the game fostered demon worship and a belief in witchcraft and magic.

"It's still white history. And no amount of casting people of color disguises the fact that they're erasing people of color from the actual narrative."