Excerpts

A new book argues that Irish famine philanthropy “went viral” in the nineteenth century because relief has been, and continues to be, politically potent.

Two court cases that defined and changed the nature of personhood.

An overlooked effect of the legislation, passed 60 years ago this week, was its powerful message of hope for Black Americans.

Despite its failures and limitations, the American Revolution unleashed popular aspirations to throw off tyranny of all kinds.

The long history and contemporary relevance of war tax resistance.

Eighty years ago, Americans embraced a new definition of their faith: “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.”

America’s founding document is now an all-but-meaningless scrap of paper. Happy Fourth!

The Supreme Court doesn't have the last word; the people do. How attorneys pushed back on the flawed 1987 McCleskey decision.

The belief of first-generation Japanese immigrants in their racial superiority over Filipinos was a by-product of the San Joaquin Delta's white hegemony.

A case study from the smallpox epidemic among North Carolina Moravians.

Putting the burden on the government to demonstrate significant risk of harm before regulating has allowed willful ignorance to undermine public health.

American empire, bananas, and the Crescent City.

Athletes drank poison, dodged traffic, stole peaches and even hitchhiked during the 24.85-mile race in St. Louis.

“Night Flyer” expands Harriet Tubman’s legacy to include her family, community and “eco-spiritual worldview.”

Looking back at Horace M. Kallen's collection of essays entitled "Culture and Democracy in the United States."

Concerns about privacy and pressures regarding the physical appearance of women and their homes contributed to the failure of AT&T’s 1960s Picturephone.

Steven Hyden's new book about Bruce Springsteen's iconic "Born in the U.S.A" album is the product of a lifelong passion for the music of "The Boss."

Charting the history of a TV phenomenon.

The colonial rebellion we celebrate every July 4th doesn’t fit the definition.

As Democrats debate whether Joe Biden should stay in the race against Trump, LBJ’s often misunderstood example looms.

The removal of Indigenous people was a national priority with broad consensus.

The crazy history of nominating Conventions.

A new book argues that worship of the Constitution has distorted our politics.

A look at how and why African Americans first started to abandon the GOP for the Democratic Party.

Bill Trueheart's battles with friend and fellow Foreign Service officer Fritz Nolting illustrate the American tragedy in Southeast Asia.

The conservative justices have ignored history altogether and created a shocking new precedent: The president is above the law.

The city in summer floated in a daze that moved otherwise sensible people to repeat endlessly the brainless greeting “Hot enough for ya?”

Political scientist Jacob Hacker explains how we wound up with a healthcare system so different from the European model, and why lobbyists hold so much sway.

The American method of high-risk, potentially high-reward investments has fueled innovation from New England whaling ventures to Silicon Valley start-ups.

"The Conqueror" was filmed downwind of a nuclear test site. A new documentary tells the story of the fatal film set, and the community affected.

A new graphic book unpacks the role that some White women played in suppressing voting rights for all — and the lessons today in the fight for universal ballot access.

Without the local San Francisco activists who risked their lives for it, today’s legal cannabis market might never have come to be.

After the apocalypse that wasn’t.

"To believe that the richness of Black identity can be understood through a temporary costume trivializes the lifelong trauma of racism. It turns the complexity of Black life into a stunt."

In the 1960s, civil rights activist Floyd McKissick successfully sold President Nixon on an idea of a black built, black-owned community in North Carolina.

Hollywood's first natural-color feature film and the breakout role for Anna May Wong, considered the first Chinese American movie star.

Tracing the origins of Japanese emoji symbolism and drawing technology.

For the players in the First World War, the goal was not to prevail but to avoid being seen as the loser.

Many LGBTQ+ veterans settled in the city as it was a common point of disembarkation and a place of gender nonconformity.

Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence announced a new epoch in world history, transforming a provincial tax revolt into a great struggle to liberate humanity.

The Supreme Court’s expanding interpretation of the Second Amendment threatens longstanding democratic authority to enact gun safety measures.

How the Federalist Society became the engine of the conservative legal movement—and where it might be headed next.

He wrote one of my favorite songs, but was so much more than a composer.

The Founders knew that executive power was vital but dangerous in any republic.

No one really knows how interest rates work—not the experts who study them, the investors who track them, or the officials who set them.

Siskel and Ebert and the heyday of popular movie criticism.

The story of how Harriet Tubman led 150 African American soldiers to rescue over 700 former slaves freed five months earlier by the Emancipation Proclamation.

How the focus on Harlem obfuscated Black culture in the Midwest.

Tracing financial capital—from J. P. Morgan to BlackRock.

The American public is more susceptible than ever to skewed narratives.