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When Restaurants Close, Americans Lose Much More Than a Meal

Restaurants have always been about more than feeding city residents. During the 1918 flu pandemic, they were kept open as sites of social solidarity.

by Rebecca L. Spang via The Conversation on March 20, 2020

Stan and Mardi Timm show off Johnson Smith novelties they’ve collected. Stan wears X-Ray Spex and holds a Tark Electric Razor. Mardi wears a sailor’s hat that says “Kiss Me Honey I Won’t Bite” and holds a Little Gem Lung Tester and Bust Developer.

Fun Delivered: World’s Foremost Experts on Whoopee Cushions and Silly Putty Tell All

The Timms provide the history behind their collection of 20th century mail-order novelty items.

by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on March 17, 2020

Eight daguerreotype portraits.

Samuel Morse and the Quest for the Daguerreotype Portrait

When a remarkable new invention by Louis Daguerre was announced by the French, it was American inventor Samuel Morse who sensed its commercial potential.

by Sarah Kate Gillespie via The MIT Press Reader on March 16, 2020

Janis Joplin, the Mistaken Icon of the Counterculture

The counterculture dictum to “turn on, tune in, drop out” did not quite capture Janis’s philosophy to “get it while you can.”

by Shalon Van Tine via Tropics of Meta on March 15, 2020

Cartoon drawing of a shopkeeper in front of a dairy shop.

How Dairy Lunchrooms Became Alternatives to the NYC Saloon ‘Free Lunch.’

Ben Katchor's Brief History of the Dairy Restaurant.

by Ben Katchor via Literary Hub on March 10, 2020

Cartoon caricature of Jack Welch.

Jack Welch Was a Bitter Foe of American Workers

The GE exec was known for his big personality. He should be known for the role he played in creating America's toxic corporate culture on a base of inequality.

by Erik Loomis via HNN on March 6, 2020

Screen shot from CNN of presidential debate, with a question about socialism posed to Bernie Sanders.

How Socialism Became Un-American Through the Ad Council’s Propaganda Campaigns

Bernie Sanders is a Democratic Socialist, a potential problem for the presidential candidate. A Cold War campaign to link American-ness and capitalism helped create popular distrust of socialism.

by Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy via The Conversation on February 27, 2020

Photo of a group of well-dressed professionals is edited to blot out their faces.

How McKinsey Destroyed the Middle Class

Technocratic management, no matter how brilliant, cannot unwind structural inequalities.

by Daniel Markovits via The Atlantic on February 3, 2020

The History of the StairMaster

The 1980s brought about America's gym obsession—and a machine that demands a notoriously grueling cardio workout

by Michelle Delgado via Smithsonian on January 31, 2020

Michael Lind on Reviving Democracy

To fix things, we must acknowledge the nature of the problem.

by Michael Lind, Aaron Sibarium via The American Interest on January 29, 2020

Organic Farming's Political History

Despite its countercultural associations today, organic farming was entangled with fascist and quasi-fascist politics at its origins.

by Michelle Niemann via Edge Effects on January 23, 2020

In 1930s New York, the Mayor Took on the Mafia by Banning Artichokes

Gangs and mafiosos have a long history with food crime.

by Mark Hay via Atlas Obscura on January 17, 2020

‘Impeachment Polka’: How a Composer in 1868 Sought to Capitalize on America’s Political Obsession

A pianist performs a piece of music forgotten for 150 years.

by Philip Bump via Washington Post on January 16, 2020

“They Like That Soft Bread”

In Knoxville, Tennessee, folks love sandwiches from a Fresh-O-Matic steamer like they love their grandmas.

by Chelsey Mae Johnson via The Bitter Southerner on January 14, 2020

When the American Dream Came With a Drive-Thru

The fast-food age began with scrappy entrepreneurship, but corporate concentration has made the chains dull and uninspiring.

by Addison Del Mastro via The American Conservative on January 3, 2020

Newspaper clipping of article titled the rise and fall of facts.

The Rise and Fall of Facts

Tracing the evolution and challenges of fact-checking in journalism.

by Colin Dickey via Columbia Journalism Review on December 6, 2019

Workers on a pineapple plantation.

In Hawaiʻi, Plantation Tourism Tastes Like Pineapple

The Dole pineapple plantation has a destructive history of transforming the Hawaiian Islands—something that continues today in the tourism industry.

by Mallory Huard via Edge Effects on November 12, 2019

A Kansas City Chiefs fan in a headdress.

How the Kansas City Chiefs Got Their Name and the Boy Scout Tribe of Mic-O-Say

The Mic-O-Say was founded in 1925, under the leadership of Harold Roe Bartle, a two-term Kansas City mayor known in his social circles as ‘Chief.’

by Vincent Schilling via Indian Country Today on September 21, 2019

When Adding New States Helped the Republicans

DC statehood would be a modest ploy compared with the mass admission of underpopulated western territories.

by Heather Cox Richardson via The Atlantic on September 19, 2019

multicolor illustration of Gmail icons, iMessage text boxes, reply arrows, and refresh arrows.

Was E-mail a Mistake?

Digital messaging was supposed to make our work lives easier and more efficient, but the math suggests that meetings might be better.

by Cal Newport via The New Yorker on August 6, 2019

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez speaks to an audience in front of a Green New Deal sign.

The Federal Government Subsidized the Carbon Economy. Now it Should Subsidize a Greener One.

Why the Green New Deal fits right in with America’s energy economy.

by Ryan Driskell Tate via Made By History on April 26, 2019

Trump looks at border wall construction prototypes.

The Hole in Donald Trump’s Wall

As long as Americans continue to flood into Mexico, the wall will do little to deter crossings.

by Tore C. Olsson via Made By History on January 9, 2019

A modern adaption of Howard Chandler Christy’s 1940 painting, “Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States,” with contemporary players on both sides of the judicial contest.

How The Federalist Society is Helping Conservatives Win The Judicial War

It isn’t just about Supreme Court picks. The group’s impact on the law goes much deeper.

by David Montgomery via Washington Post Magazine on January 2, 2019

Drawing of "Uncle Sam," a common national personification of the U.S., crouched over a church. He appears to be listening to what is going on inside.

Under God

Our secular government is all tangled up with God. How did we get here?

by Jackie Roche via The Nib on November 30, 2018

How Restaurants Got So Loud

Fashionable minimalism replaced plush opulence. That’s a recipe for commotion.

by Kate Wagner via The Atlantic on November 27, 2018

Drawing of a turkey-shaped brown blob on a platter with worried people peering across the table at it.

A Delicious History of “Meatless Meat”

Non-meat proteins have a long history – and are looking more like the necessary food of the future.

by Maki Naro via The Nib on November 14, 2018

Why We Need Government to Safeguard Against the New Robber Barons

Competition among media companies is crucial to democracy.

by Gregory Church via Made By History on July 31, 2018

The Real Reason the Trump Administration Went to War Over Breast-Feeding

On breast-feeding, Trump is following the Reagan formula.

by Paul Adler via Made By History on July 11, 2018

U.S. Senators Bob Dole and Birch Bayh shaking hands.

How Big Pharma Was Captured by the One Percent

The industry's price-gouging economic model was engineered by Wall Street and its political enablers—and only Washington can fix it.

by Alexander Zaitchik via The New Republic on June 28, 2018

An ad published in the first issue of 'Consumer Reports' (1936).

Can Consumer Groups Be Radical?

A historian looked at the consumer movements of the 1930s to find out.

by Lawrence B. Glickman, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on May 16, 2018

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