Excerpts

Many of us do not go gentle into that good night.

Women anthropologists, face assault in the field, exposing victim blaming, institutional failures, and ethical gaps in academia.

The decline of Southern industries paved the way for plantations in Fiji and Australia, where victims of “blackbirding” endured horrific working conditions.

If you want a clear strategy for winning wars, don’t play a semantic game with the name of the department that’s charged with the strategy’s execution.

Rankin's 'Letters on American Slavery' set out a moral argument for abolition that resonated across the nation.

Christine Jorgensen and the birth of trans bathroom panic.

A 1940s child nutrition program has been a subject of debate for decades, reflecting shifting political priorities.

Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War.

How politicians used the story of one young patient to neglect the AIDS crisis.

Rains of blood and frogs, mysterious disappearances, objects in the sky: these were the anomalies that fascinated Charles Fort in his Book of the Damned.

There are uncanny parallels between the elections of 2024 and 1856, with one big exception: in 1856, it was the political left that was on the offensive.

California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.

The surprising influence of premillennial eschatology on American culture.

The hero worship of the family of American royalty has a dark side: a tendency toward conspiracism that fits with the MAGA movement.

When dancer Loïe Fuller’s spinning garment reflected the stage lights, it took on a life of its own, beguiling those in New York, Berlin, and Paris.

Gladiator and Gladiator II have little to do with the Roman past. But they have a great deal to do with the American present.

Why rock overtook every other genre to define our understanding of America at war.

A new Smithsonian book reckons with the enduring legacies of slavery and capitalism.

The decline of South Carolina's apple industry, interwoven with personal memories of family orchards.

Trader Joe’s stocks an aggressively American version of the Dutch pastry, turning it into a beloved holiday staple nationwide.

How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.

When religion became the veil for racial violence in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A look at this iconic salad’s origin story and its evolution into a cornerstone of accessible American cooking.

A new California bill would commemorate 'a dark part of our American history' known as the Mexican 'repatriation' of the 1930s.

Americans’ enthusiasm for reheating last night’s dinner has faded as the nation has prospered.

The history of a familiar, useful, and troublesome object.

Walter Camp praised the sport as a way to toughen up élite young white men. Despite changes to the game and society, his legacy remains.

The “Indian peach” survived a genocide—but can it withstand climate change?

During the Little Ice Age, Native North Americans devised whole new economic, social, and political structures.

Many of today's most influential right-wing tactics and arguments have their roots in 1960s-era college campuses.

Glenn Fleishman’s history of the comic strip as a technological artifact vividly restores the world of newspaper printing—gamboge, Zip-A-Tone, flongs, and all.

Connie Hawkins overcame scandal and setbacks to star for the Pittsburgh Pipers, leading them to an ABA title, paving the way for NBA reforms.

A new release of an 1891 song by Louis Vasnier deepens what we know about the genre’s origins.

You’ve got one unsung editor to thank for many of your all-time favorite recipes.

The inventor, philosopher, and elder statesman of the American Revolution never gave up on his first love — publishing.

Robin Blackburn’s sweeping history of slavery and freedom in the 19th century.

A selection of radio and television programs that reinforce or reject stereotypes, and Native-created media that responds to those depictions.

A failed quest to rename the famed school desegregation case for the South Carolina family who filed first is about more than legal recognition.

History books are rewritten to focus on the underdog. Surely that is a victory for the common people...or is it?

Almost 1,300 people say the state of New Hampshire failed to act to protect them from child abuse at youth facilities. Here’s what the allegations reveal.

The symbols sported by Trump’s defense pick show how the medieval past is being reimagined by Christian nationalists, behind a shield of plausible deniability.

After 170 years of armed attacks, forced relocations, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Native Americans, the U.S. military wants to celebrate.

Using Murray Rothbard vs. Sam Francis to understand the next administration.

What a long-dead, cartoonishly corrupt Texas bureaucrat can tell us about the nature of immigration enforcement and the U.S.-Mexico divide.

The originalist revolution will never be complete until we fully appreciate the natural law roots of the common law.

The U.S., Nicaragua, and the International Court of Justice in the 1980s.

How geology shaped American culture.

The actress, screenwriter, and novelist’s reviews and essays from 1918-19 display a comprehensive grasp of movie art and a visionary sense of its future.

A new history of the CPUSA reads like a Cold War throwback.

Fire!! was a pathbreaking showcase for Black artists and writers “ready to emotionally serve a new day and a new generation.”