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A Wretched Situation Made Plain on Paper

How an engraving of a slave ship helped the abolition movement.
by Cheryl Finley via Lapham’s Quarterly on July 25, 2018
Photo of young woman looking at camera in blue-walled room. Above her an image of Jesus Christ is framed. Through the room's window a shirtless man can be seen on a porch, also facing the camera

Left Behind

J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" and Steven Stoll's "Ramp Hollow" both remind us that the history of poor and migratory people in Appalachia is a difficult story to tell.
by Nancy Isenberg via New York Review of Books on June 28, 2018
Julia Ann Jackson, age 102, whose narrative was recorded by the WPA, 1937-1938.

Demanding to Be Heard

African American women’s voices from slave narratives to #MeToo.
by Stephanie Richmond via Nursing Clio on June 12, 2018

Dressmaking Led Elizabeth Keckley From Slavery to the White House

But her memoir caused a rift with Mary Todd Lincoln.
by Nadra Nittle via Racked on February 26, 2018

Here's What Benjamin Franklin Scholars Think About Lin-Manuel Miranda's Ode to the Inventor

Fact-checking the lyrics of Miranda's new song.
by Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on December 15, 2017

Why A 19th Century American Slave Memoir Is Becoming A Bestseller In Japan's Bookstores

Why "Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl" by Harriet Ann Jacobs (1861), became a hit in Japan when it was published there in 2013.
by Jake Adelstein via Forbes on November 15, 2017
partner

“I Wanted to Tell the Story of How I Had Become a Racist”

An interview with historian Charles B. Dew.
by Charles B. Dew, Robin Lindley via HNN on September 10, 2017

John Quincy Adams Kept a Diary and Didn’t Skimp on the Details

On the occasion of his 250th birthday, the making of our sixth president in his own words.
by Sara Georgini via Smithsonian on July 11, 2017

The Many Lives of Pauli Murray

She was an architect of the civil-rights struggle-and the women's movement. Why haven't you heard of her?
by Kathryn Schulz via The New Yorker on April 17, 2017

Nativism, Violence, and the Origins of the Paranoid Style

How a lurid 19th-century memoir of sexual abuse produced one of the ugliest features of American politics.
by Mike Mariani via Slate on March 22, 2017
Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe and the Power of a Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe knew that readers would add their visual image of the author to his work to create a personality that informed their reading.
by Erin Blakemore, Kevin J. Hayes via JSTOR Daily on February 13, 2017

Geronimo: The Warrior

Edward Rielly tells of the tragic massacre which underpinned the life of resistance fighter Geronimo.
by Edward Rielly via The Public Domain Review on August 29, 2011

The Unacknowledged Lesson: Earl Warren and the Japanese Relocation Controversy

Though best known for his dedication to civil rights as Chief Justice, Earl Warren was a key figure behind Japanese internment in California - and stood by it.
by G. Edward White via VQR on October 15, 1979
A woman peering into the cave of Sarah Bishop c. 1900.

The Curious History of New England’s Hermit Tourism

From Revolutionary War-era recluses to 1920s roadside attractions, meet the solitary figures who turned isolation into a destination.
by Ryan Shea via Atlas Obscura on June 13, 2025
Walt Whitman

Brag and Humblebrag: Walt Whitman’s Encounters

Walt Whitman was a champion self-advertiser, maven of the brag and the humblebrag.
by Maureen N. McLane via London Review of Books on May 22, 2025
Graydon Carter sitting next to stacks of ornate, empty chairs.

Vanity Fair’s Heyday

I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what?
by Bryan Burrough via The Yale Review on March 14, 2025
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Chamberlain’s War

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is remarkable not only for his sacrifices on behalf of the Union, but also for the moral imagination that inspired him.
by Mitchell G. Klingenberg via Law & Liberty on February 28, 2025
Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale at 1984 presidential debate.

When a Debate Flop Raised Concerns About Ronald Reagan's Fitness to Run for Re-Election

During the 1984 campaign, the 73-year-old president meandered his way through his face-off against Walter Mondale, prompting questions about his mental acuity.
by Eli Wizevich via Smithsonian on July 11, 2024
Two women protesting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh

Disposable Heroes

Christine Blasey Ford’s memoir captures the hazards of “coming forward.”
by Moira Donegan via Bookforum on July 2, 2024
Beluga whales.

How P.T. Barnum Brought Beluga Whales to New York City

On museum ethics and animal welfare in 19th century America.
by Monica Murphy, Bill Wasik via Literary Hub on April 25, 2024
Picture of Frederick Douglass overlaid on a poster advertising a speech of his.

The Annotated Frederick Douglass

In 1866, the famous abolitionist laid out his vision for radically reshaping America in the pages of "The Atlantic."
by Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight via The Atlantic on November 13, 2023
Sly Stone performing at a concert.

The Undoing of a Great American Band

Sly and the Family Stone suggested new possibilities in music and life—until it all fell apart.
by James Parker via The Atlantic on September 16, 2023
Drawing of Josiah Henson

The Man Who Became Uncle Tom

Harriet Beecher Stowe said that Josiah Henson’s life had inspired her most famous character. But Henson longed to be recognized by his own name.
by Clint Smith via The Atlantic on September 8, 2023
George H.W. Bush, wearing a Yale baseball uniform, receives the manuscript of Babe Ruth’s autobiography.

In Babe Ruth’s Final Steps on Public Stage, Two Brushes With History

Babe Ruth's final days revealed his mortality, and made more history, when he encountered a future U.S. president.
by Frederic J. Frommer via Washington Post on June 13, 2023
Portrait of an elderly Harriot Jacobs.

I Was Determined to Remember: Harriet Jacobs and the Corporeality of Slavery’s Legacies

How a folklorist encourages people to experience the past and present of a place.
by Koritha Mitchell via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 30, 2023
A rainbow over a waterscape.

Queer History Detective: On the Power of Uncovering Stories from the Past

With more queer history detectives, what could our future look like?
by Amelia Possanza via Literary Hub on May 30, 2023
Martin Luther King Jr., left, and Malcolm X, right.

MLK’s Famous Criticism of Malcolm X Was a ‘Fraud,’ Author Finds

Alex Haley’s transcript of his famous 'Playboy' interview with Martin Luther King Jr. does not match what was published.
by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on May 10, 2023
Winnifred Eaton

The First Asian American Screenwriter

The woman with the pen name Onoto Watanna had a stunningly productive literary career as a cookbook writer, novelist, and screenwriter.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on May 9, 2023
Ferris wheel at the Chicago World Fair of 1893.

The Magic Lantern Man

At every stop, he enthralled audiences with a device called a “stereopticon.”
by David Cecelski via davidcecelski.com on May 1, 2023
Detail of faces on a family tree.

The Pocahontas Exception: America’s Ancestor Obsession

The ‘methods and collections’ of genealogists are political because they have a great deal in common with genealogy as a way of doing history.
by Thomas W. Laqueur via London Review of Books on March 30, 2023
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