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Sera Koulabdara and four members of a Laos demining team scanning the ground in grassy area.

Fifty Years of Living with America’s Unexploded Bombs

Laos was collateral damage in the U.S.' secret war. The wounds are visible in the land and in generations still waiting on justice.
by Sera Koulabdara via Zócalo Public Square on December 21, 2023
A U.S. Navy training exercise on a beach in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

"I Thought They’d Kill Us": How The US Navy Devastated a Tiny Puerto Rican Island

For decades, the military fired explosives on Vieques. The US citizens who live there still face the consequences.
by Wilfred Chan via The Guardian on May 1, 2023
A box of explosives removed from the murderer's home

America’s First Plane Bomber, and His Intended Victim

A mass murderer of 1955.
by Nathan Munn via Popula on April 5, 2023
Chuquicamata in Chile

The Transformative and Hungry Technologies of Copper Mining

Our own world is built from copper, and so too will future worlds be.
by Robrecht Declercq, Duncan Money via Edge Effects on March 16, 2023
A Japanese bomb-carrying paper balloon in North America in 1945.

When Japanese Balloons Threatened American Skies During World War II

Japan sent nearly 10,000 bomb-bearing balloons toward the U.S. during World War II. One killed six people.
by Kathryn Tolbert via Retropolis on February 3, 2023
The first discovered T-Rex skeleton, on display in the American Museum of Natural History.

On Discovering the First Fossil of a T. Rex

In Hell Creek, Montana, with a lot of dynamite.
by David K. Randall via Literary Hub on June 10, 2022
Firecracker box with "Santa Claus" theme

Kaboom! 10 Facts About Firecrackers That Will Blow You Away

Firecrackers are essentially un-American, even though we associate them with our most deeply patriotic celebration, the Fourth of July.
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on July 3, 2014

‘Great Enough to Blow Any City Off the Map’: On Site at the First Nuclear Explosion

The men who set off the nuclear age tell the tale in their own words.
by Garrett M. Graff via Politico Magazine on July 18, 2025
Kurt Vonnegut portrait composed of dots.

The Making of Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Cat’s Cradle’

How the novelist turned the violence and randomness of war into a cosmic joke.
by Noah Hawley via The Atlantic on July 2, 2025
Three identical pictures of the explosion of an atomic bomb with different coloring.

How Literature Predicted and Portrayed the Atom Bomb

On Pierrepoint B. Noyes, H.G. Wells, and the “Superweapons” of early science-fiction.
by Dorian Lynskey via Literary Hub on January 28, 2025
Chinese laborers engaged to work on the American Transcontinental Railroad system.

America's First Major Immigration Crackdown and the Making and Breaking of the West

Chinese immigrants sacrificed to create America's first transcontinental railroad. Its completion contributed to a backlash that led to immigration clampdown.
by Greg Rosalsky via NPR on November 19, 2024
Man burning a picture of Abraham Lincoln.

City on Fire

The night violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via The Atavist on September 24, 2024
Ted Kaczynski, before and after terror attacks, with writings

The Tragedy of the Unabomber

Ted Kaczynski’s criticisms of environmental destruction and out-of-control technology were incisive, but his terroristic methods had no chance of solving those problems.
by Alex Skopic via Current Affairs on June 22, 2023
U.S. Air Force plane dropping bombs
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After 50 Years, the Truth About the Vietnam Peace Agreement Remains Elusive

The Pentagon's official history says that a heavy bombardment by B-52s in 1972 pushed the North Vietnamese to return to negotiated peace. What are the facts?
by Arnold Isaacs via HNN on October 23, 2022
Painting of a stylized explosion and the silhouettes of African American soldiers.

A Deadly World War II Explosion Sparked Black Soldiers to Fight for Equal Treatment

After the deadliest home-front disaster of the war, African Americans throughout the military took action to transform the nation's armed forces.
by Matt Delmont via Smithsonian on August 24, 2022
The Great Fire of 1835, illustrated in burning buildings and fleeing citizens

New York City: The Great Fire of 1835

On the evening of 16 December 1835, a fire broke out near Wall Street. It swept away 674 buildings and though devastation seemed absolute, citizens quickly rebuilt.
by Daniel S. Levy via OUPblog on February 25, 2022
Plane with an eye in it and a bird's silhouette around.

Did Making the Rules of War Better Make the World Worse?

Why efforts to curb the cruelty of military force may have backfired.
by Dexter Filkins via The New Yorker on September 2, 2021
Rowhouses in Philadelphia burn after officials dropped a bomb on the MOVE house in May 1985.
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The Shocking MOVE Bombing Was Part of a Broader Pattern of Anti-Black Racism

How culture fueled the infamous police decision.
by J. T. Roane via Made By History on May 13, 2021

Blood & Fire: The Bombing of Wall Street, 100 Years Later

When a converted ice cream wagon blew up in Wall Street, it was the loudest burst in a war between the Federal government and American Anarchists.
by Nathan Ward via CrimeReads on September 16, 2020

Stretching to Understand Renegade Urban Fireworks

As was the case in 200 years ago, this summer's relentless pyrotechnics may not be meaningless acts of an unthinking mob.
by Marika Plater via The Metropole on September 9, 2020

The Histories Hidden in the Periodic Table

From poisoned monks and nuclear bombs to the “transfermium wars,” mapping the atomic world hasn’t been easy.
by Neima Jahromi via The New Yorker on December 27, 2019

The School Massacre that Shocked Bath, Michigan

The chilling tale of a tragedy that was seemingly erased from the American consciousness.
by Bruce Kaplan via We're History on May 18, 2018
Smog seen in Los Angeles in 1943.

Bay of Smokes

Smog first came to Los Angeles suddenly, like a stranded hitchhiker. It was July 8th, 1943, and we were at war.
by Aric Allen via Aricallen.com on May 19, 2016
Los Angeles Times building, after being bombed on October 1, 1910

How They Blew Up the L.A. Times

During the half-century between Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, class warfare in the United States was always robust, usually ferocious, and often homicidal.
by Russell Baker via New York Review of Books on November 20, 2008
Side by side still-frames progressively depict the first nuclear explosion.

80 Years Ago: The First Atomic Explosion, 16 July 1945

Declassified documents show atomic testing in New Mexico distributed radioactive matter to an extent that the scientists at Los Alamos were ill-prepared for.
by William Burr via National Security Archive on July 16, 2025
David Dobson with scientific equipment.

Nuclear Proliferation and the “Nth Country Experiment”

A mid-1960s “do-it-yourself” project produced “credible nuclear weapon” design from open sources.
by William Burr via National Security Archive on January 23, 2025
Aftermath of the explosions at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine.

How Congress Is Written Out of History

Congress's role in shaping policies like the Affordable Care Act and exonerating Port Chicago sailors is often overlooked, overshadowed by the president.
by John A. Lawrence via Perspectives on History on October 31, 2024
A view of a pool of lava on a snowy day in Yellowstone National Park.

A Geological Time Bomb: Remembering the Night That Yellowstone Exploded

Considering the impact of the 1959 earthquake that shook our most famous national park.
by Randall K. Wilson via Literary Hub on October 24, 2024
A soldier walking an old woman through a destroyed city.

D-Day’s Forgotten Victims Speak Out

Eighty years after D-Day, few know one of its darkest stories: the thousands of civilians killed by a carpet-bombing campaign of little military purpose.
by Ed Vulliamy via New York Review of Books on June 10, 2024
‘View of Grave Creek Mound’; engraving by Ebenezer Mathers, 1839.

The Plunder and the Pity

Alicia Puglionesi explores the damage white supremacy did to Native Americans and their land.
by Ian Frazier via New York Review of Books on January 18, 2024
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