Excerpts

For decades, the military made sure soldiers had access to the treat—including spending $1 million on a floating ice-cream factory.

If too much partisanship is the problem, more bureaucracy might be the answer.

The not-so-sweet history.

They believed public schools were the foundation of a virtuous republic.

The myth of Ike’s nuclear recklessness could lead us into war.

Nuclear disarmament talks with the North Koreans go back at least a quarter-century. How did we get to Singapore?

New exhibits put slavery at the center of Monticello's story, and make it clear that Jefferson was the father of Hemings' children.

With Amazon on the rise and a business tycoon in the White House, can a new generation of Democrats return the party to its trust-busting roots?

A short history puts contemporary anti-monopoly movements in context.

The bloody history of attacks on American journalists.

Here's what we've learned about mass protests since the 1917 Silent Parade.

How Alice Collins Plebuch’s foray into “recreational genomics” upended a family tree.

One of the key factors in what happened in 1967 in Detroit has long gone overlooked

In many ways, silent film was an art form entirely different from the "talkies" we enjoy today.

Where coloring books came from says something about what they are today.

What to know before equating "fire and fury" to the "rain of ruin."

How does one talk about cancer, something so unpleasant that is almost always linked with death, and where do metaphors come in?

Decades before "The L Word," Edythe Eyde knew her magazine for lesbians — Vice Versa — was illegal.

A historian turned novelist ponders the absence of women from America's historical archives.

Researchers suggest effects of the Colonial Era can be detected in rocks or even air.

Black women have always been equal partners in, if not central to, the tradition of Black protest and liberation movements.

Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.

And why Congress should do more to wrest back control of economic sanctions.

How a Boston rebellion became an American Revolution is a story too seldom told because it is one we take for granted.

Police brutality has been a hot topic in contemporary society, but when did this all really start and where did dogs get involved?

The classic baseball hit "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" has a lot more to do with U.S. history than one might think.

The prospective series takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated?

HBO's “Confederate” assumes America is much further from its slaveholding past than it really is.

The long road to "Citizens United."

By seeking to talk to Soviet leaders and end the Cold War, Reagan helped to win it.

The scholar who coined the phrase "net neutrality" explains why the agency's latest move represents such a radical break.

From the first exchange of gunfire in 1865 to the 1953 ceasefire, and beyond.

Liberal Democrats sidestepped Congress to bring free trade to the U.S. Now, Trump is able to do the same thing to destroy it.

President Trump is repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression.

The NFL's response to player protests reflects decades of League and U.S. attempts to portray false images of post-racial harmony.

Rachel Herrmann asks whether there’s such a thing as “American food.”

Are you part of the problem?

In her new book, ‘True Sex,’ historian Emily Skidmore looks at their lives and how society has treated them.

Donald Trump has been playing a lot of golf since becoming president. Can his habit be explained by his "sky-high extroversion?"

For the frontier women of the 19th century, the experience of childbirth was harrowing, and even just expressing fear was considered a privilege.

The president’s patriotic pageant renews a question dating back to the first White House visit by a champion sports team.

Popularized by Thomas Jefferson, this versatile dish fulfills our nation’s quest for the ‘cheapest protein possible.’

He “put the history of slavery at the center of our understanding of American history.”

Why the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision was a major loss for gay rights.

Clarence Darrow’s unfinished work.

Is polygamy justifiable? Is it lawful to eat swine's flesh?

It's been a tough year for the Georgia peach.

Today, many politicians claim a community approach means soft on crime. Birmingham's Johnnie Johnson Jr. disagrees.

The precedents for Trump’s hyped-up immigration crackdown.

A disenchanted San Franciscan rides west with a motley crew of pioneers.