Culture

An interview with horror historian David J. Skal.

Johnny Appleseed was based on a real person, John Chapman, who was eccentric enough without the legends.

In the 1970s and 1980s, homeowners were terrified by the idea that they didn't own the land they'd just bought.

In 1956, Ed Sullivan showed America what nuclear war looks like. We were never the same again.

Blackboards will endure as symbols of learning long after they’ve disappeared from schools.

And how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock’s segregated future.

How an African instrument got a racist reinvention.

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.