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Two unidentified soldiers in Union cavalry uniforms with sword share a drink in front of painted backdrop showing camp.

Manhood, Madness, and Moonshine

Civil War veterans could be unmanned by drinking too much, and their service did not insulate them from postwar blights on their manhood.
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The Drunkard’s Progress

Two hundred years ago, it was hard for Americans to miss the message that they had a serious drinking problem.
Illustration of the harmful effects of alcohol on a Seneca village

America's First Addiction Epidemic

The alcohol epidemic devastated Native American communities, leading to crippling poverty, high mortality rates — and a successful sobriety movement.

Blurred Forms: An Unsteady History of Drunkenness

We have always questioned the spiritual and physical effects of alcohol.
Lee Pattie Registrar's Report

Trouble with the Brothers: Booze, Divorce, and Madness in the American West

The past really is a foreign country, as historian Jonathan Ablard finds when piecing together the turbulent history of his ancestors in the West and Midwest.
John Tower; Pete Hegseth.

In 1989, Senators Faced a Pete Hegseth Situation Very Differently

I covered the 1989 fight over George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense nominee. It feels awfully familiar.
First Lady Betty Ford poses atop of the cabinet's conference table.

First Lady In Motion

Betty Ford and the public eye.
Glass of wine spilling.

The Great Alcohol Health Flip-Flop Isn’t That Hard to Understand—If You Know Who Was Behind It

More than 30 years ago, the "French paradox" got America bleary-eyed.
Members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

The Secret Feminist History of the Temperance Movement

The radical women behind the original “dump him” discourse.
Annabel Battistella photographed at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.

Fanne Foxe, ‘Argentine Firecracker’ at Center of D.C. Sex Scandal, Dies at 84

She ran from the car of a powerful congressman and dove into the Tidal Basin in 1974, generating a splash that would ripple into a political cause celebre.
Two people watching Cliff Edwards perform on the ukelele.

Ukulele Ike, a.k.a. Cliff Edwards, Sings Again

Ukulele Ike, otherwise known as Cliff Edwards, was a major American pop star and an important early force in jazz. It’s time to give him another hearing.
A photo of William Faulkner

The Road to Glory: Faulkner’s Hollywood Years, 1932–1936

Lisa C. Hickman reconstructs William Faulkner’s tumultuous Hollywood sojourn of 1932–1936.

The Real Calamity Jane Was Distressingly Unlike Her Legend

A frontier character's life was crafted to be legendary, but was the real person as incredible?

The History of O. Henry's 'The Gift of the Magi'

The beloved Christmas short story may have been dashed off on deadline but its core message has endured.

The Old Man and His Muse: Hemingway’s Toe-Curling Infatuation with Adriana Ivancich

For the last decade of his life, the sozzled Hemingway was in thrall to an Italian 30 years his junior.

The Silent Type

David Blight reviews Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant.

Pour One Out for Ulysses S. Grant

His presidency was known for corruption, scandal, and booze. In a new book, Ron Chernow attempts to rehabilitate it.
Painting of "Big Mama Thornton" wearing a suit and cowboy hat, singing on stage.

The Thinning of Big Mama

"Big Mama" does what all blues greats do: she telegraphs endurance and force to whomever out there in TV land might need it. This is blues perfection.

Winston Churchill Gets a Doctor’s Note to Drink “Unlimited” Alcohol in Prohibition America

Even Winston Churchill needed a doctor's excuse to get out of Prohibition.

Born a Slave, Emma Ray Was The Saint of Seattle’s Slums

Emma Ray was a leader in battles against poverty, and for temperance.
Men dumping a barrel of alcohol down the sewer during Prohibition.
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Dried Up

How nativism and racism shaped the national movement towards Prohibition.
European fur traders trading rum to Native Americans
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Liquid Poison

American Indians and the tumult in their cultures precipitated by the arrival of alcohol.
Black and white photo of Charlie Rich on a hammock.

Dear Charlie

Charlie Rich, the tragic soul man whose legacy was largely forgotten after his brief period of fame.
Cover of "American Civil Wars" by Alan Taylor.

Our Civil War Was Bigger Than You Think

Alan Taylor’s case for thinking of it as a continental conflict.
Patti Davis sits for a portrait with her pug, Lily, at her home.

For Years, the Reagans' Daughter Regretted Some Things She Wrote. Now She's at Peace.

Patti Davis has spent a lifetime chronicling her life with parents Ronald and Nancy Reagan. In a new book, 'Dear Mom and Dad,' she reckons with them as people.
Margie Burkhart

The Enduring Family Trauma Behind ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

The murders of her Osage relatives for their oil wealth still reverberate in the life of Margie Burkhart, granddaughter of a central character in the new movie.
An illustration of Lucinda Williams in a storm with debris in the air behind her.

Lucinda Williams and the Idea of Louisiana

An exploration of the family stories, Southern territory, and distortions of memory that Lucinda Williams' songwriting evokes.
A drawing of the outside of colorful windows at night.

Upper West Side Cult

In 1950, the Sullivinian Institute was created to push the boundaries of psychoanalysis. By 1980, its therapists and patients had become a small paramilitary.
Ozempic injection and box
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For 150 Years, We’ve Sought a Scientific Solution To Cure Addiction

A miracle cure for addiction may not be around the corner.
Will Smith as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Tracing the Evolution of Celebrity Memoirs, from Charles Lindbergh to Will Smith

Creating a personal myth allows celebrities to create just that—a myth.

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