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Star-Herb Medicines and Teas for all Diseases, 1923.
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How Government Helped Birth the Advertising Industry

Advertising went from being an embarrassing activity to a legitimate part of every company’s business plans—despite scant evidence that it worked.
by Livia Gershon, Daniel Navon via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2024
Art installation of cardboard pieces with the Amazon arrow logo, arranged in the shape of a cresting wave.

World in a Box: Cardboard Media and the Geographic Imagination

Cardboard boxes hold a world of meaning that spans from Amazon to the Container Corporation of America.
by Shannon Mattern via Places Journal on May 15, 2024
Illustration of a man typing on his laptop on a rollercoaster ride.

Work Sucks. What Could Salvage It?

New books examine the place of work in our lives—and how people throughout history have tried to change it.
by Erik Baker via The New Yorker on May 1, 2024
A advertisement for the BankAmericard depicting it as a card for the American family.

How Did America Become the Nation of Credit Cards?

Americans have always borrowed, but how exactly did their lives become so entangled with the power of plastic cards?
by Sean H. Vannatta via Aeon on April 22, 2024
Still from Say Anything (1989) with a man holding a boom box above his head.

When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis

When does our taste in music stagnate?
by Daniel Parris via Stat Significant on April 10, 2024
A gun shop in Dunedin, Florida.

America Fell for Guns Recently, and for Reasons You Will Not Guess

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history.
by Megan Kang via Aeon on April 9, 2024
A collage of suggestive images of women, a woman holding a camera, and a red letter X.

How Candida Royalle Set Out to Reinvent Porn

As a feminist in the adult-film industry, she believed the answer wasn’t banning porn; it was better porn.
by Margaret Talbot via The New Yorker on March 18, 2024
An assortment of Girl Scout cookies.

The Truth Behind the Girl Scout Cookie Graveyard

Even popular cookies can end up permanently cut from the roster.
by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on March 18, 2024
People walking around buildings destroyed by the Johnstown Flood.
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A Flood of Tourism in Johnstown

Days after a failed dam led to the drowning deaths of more than 2,200 people, the Pennsylvania industrial town was flooded again—with tourists.
by Matthew Wills, Emily Godbey via JSTOR Daily on March 1, 2024
Ferris wheel at Cony Island.
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Spending My Free Time Researching Free Time

One academic tells the story behind his new book -- and his next one.
by Gary Cross via HNN on February 27, 2024
A nearly gutted department store escalator in Owings Mills Mall in Owings Mills, Maryland.

The Life and Death of the American Mall

The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.
by Matthew Christopher via Atlas Obscura on January 10, 2024
Tom Wolfe in profile against the New York City skyline.

The Electric Kool-Aid Conservative

Tom Wolfe was no radical.
by Osita Nwanevu via The New Republic on January 5, 2024
Photo of a female jogger drinking water out of a pink metal water bottle.
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Your New Year's Resolution to Drink More Water Has a History

Our water bottle obsession speaks to deeper historical trends.
by Emily J. H. Contois via Made By History on January 2, 2024
The front of a large truck.

We’ve Hit a Grim Milestone We Haven’t Seen Since 1981. Why Can’t We Do Anything About It?

An irresistible trend took hold 50 years ago, and we’re all paying the price.
by David Zipper via Slate on December 18, 2023
Shipwreck nicknamed the "Christmas Tree Boat," which disappeared beneath Lake Michigan waters in November 1912.

The ‘Christmas Tree Boat’ Shipwreck That Devastated 1912 Chicagoans

Marine archaeologists are beginning to understand what really happened to Captain Santa's ill-fated ship, nicknamed the Christmas Tree Boat.
by Jonathan Feakins via Atlas Obscura on December 13, 2023
Person holding a blonde American Girl doll and American Girl bag

All Dolled Up

How American Girl transformed the doll world—and why millennials love it so.
by Jayne Ross via The American Scholar on November 30, 2023
Girl holding a pile of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls

The Droll Capitalist Parable of Cabbage Patch Kids

A new documentary, “Billion Dollar Babies,” shows how a product of Appalachian folk art drew the blueprint for all holiday toy crazes to come.
by Jessica Winter via The New Yorker on November 20, 2023
A man wearing a cowboy outfit shoots at a series of targets in a sand pit

Home on the (Firing) Range: Gunfight Reenactments, “Old West” Competitive Shooting, and the Myth of Authenticity

Reenactments of the frontier west, complete with cowboy shootouts on main streets, reproduce a narrative of history that is widely accepted by millions.
by Jennifer Tucker via The Panorama on November 15, 2023
A warehouse of canned salmon

How Canned Food Went From Military Rations to Fancy Appetizers

This simple technology changed the world.
by Anne Ewbank via Atlas Obscura on November 13, 2023
Hand holding a gun painted like the American flag.

The Real Origins of America’s Gun Culture

“Gun Country” chronicles the transformation of guns from tangible weapons to ideological ammunition during the Cold War.
by Becca Rothfeld via Washington Post on November 9, 2023
A crowd of tourist superimposed over images of Salem attractions and a cemetery.

Salem’s Unholy Bargain: How Tragedy Became an Attraction

Is the cost worth the payoff?
by Lex Pryor via The Ringer on October 30, 2023
Kroger plastic bag.

How to Read a Plastic Bag

The history of a familiar, useful, and troublesome object.
by Roger Turner via Science History Institute on October 30, 2023
Collage of Ebony cover, makeup ad, and card catalogue.

Rebrand

"Ebony" strives to become a one-stop shop.
by Mary Retta via Columbia Journalism Review on October 16, 2023
"Addicted to Cool" spelled out with air conditioning units and ducts.

Addicted to Cool

How the dream of air conditioning turned into the dark future of climate change.
by Philip Kennicott via Washington Post on September 21, 2023
Collage of people in "preppy" clothing.

We’re All Preppy Now

How a style steeped in American elitism took over the world.
by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela via The New Republic on August 14, 2023
Mascot character that is half lemon half lime, holding a can of Sprite.

All Soda Is Lemon-Lime Soda

It’s not a flavor; it’s a vibe.
by Ian Bogost via The Atlantic on July 28, 2023
Cover of "Driving Force" book featuring a traffic cop directing automobiles.

L.A. and the Birth of Car Culture

On Darryl Holter and Stephen Gee’s “Driving Force: Automobiles and the New American City, 1900–1930.”
by Gary Cross via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 15, 2023
Collage of a shirtless performer and a cutaway image of an egg.

My Generation

Anthem for a forgotten cohort.
by Justin E. H. Smith via Harper’s on June 9, 2023
Steve Jobs with Apple II computer.

The Birth of the Personal Computer

A new history of the Apple II charts how computers became unavoidable fixtures of our daily lives.
by Kyle Chayka via The New Yorker on May 18, 2023
Car interior with Chuck Berry reflected in side view mirror.

An Anthropologist of Filth

On Chuck Berry.
by Ian Penman via Harper’s on May 4, 2023
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