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Portrait of John Brown beside the American flag, c.1846.

America, Lost and Found at Wounded Knee

Stephen Vincent Benét’s lost epic “John Brown’s Body” envisions a nation sutured together after the Civil War, but fails to reckon with the war’s causes.
by Ed Simon, Frederick H. Jackson, Donald M. Foerster via JSTOR Daily on April 29, 2020
George Washington on the cover of Alexis Coe's "You Never Forget Your First."

A New Book About George Washington Breaks All the Rules on How to Write About George Washington

A cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches.
by Alexis Coe, Karin Wulf via Smithsonian on February 4, 2020

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.
by Patrick Sauer via Smithsonian on December 23, 2019

The Planet is Burning Around us: Is it Time to Declare the Pyrocene?

Wild, feral and fossil-fuelled, fire lights up the globe. Is it time to declare that humans have created a Pyrocene?
by Stephen Pyne via Aeon on November 20, 2019
Cover of "These Truths"

New Yorker Nation

In Jill Lepore's "These Truths," ideas produce other ideas. But new ideas arise from thinking humans, not from other ideas.
by Richard White via Reviews In American History on June 2, 2019
Unnamed Black girl.

An Unnamed Girl, a Speculative History

What a photograph reveals about the lives of young black women at the turn of the century.
by Saidiya Hartman via The New Yorker on February 9, 2019

A Skyline Is Born

A history of filmmakers retelling the story of New York’s architecture.
by Tatum Dooley via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 14, 2018
Collage of paper clippings including headless a running man, an explosion where his head would be, and a jet flying alongside him.

Ante Up: The Scales of Power Seen Through Norman Podhoretz’s Eyes

In retrospect, it was peculiar but not surprising that the Jewish-American novel peaked early—halfway through the beginning, to be precise.
by Frank Guan via The Point on September 29, 2018

Well-Behaved Women Make History Too

What gets lost when it’s only the rebel girls who get lionized?
by Joanna Scutts via Slate on June 21, 2018
Political cartoon of Grover Cleveland's trade policy.

Can History Avoid Conspiracy?

Historians still lack a good way to define, discuss, and address historical actions that appear to be "conspiracies."
by Andy Seal via U.S. Intellectual History Blog on June 4, 2018

Willful Waters

Los Angeles and its river have long been enmeshed in an epic struggle for control.
by Vittoria Di Palma, Alexander Robinson via Places Journal on May 1, 2018
Artist Titus Kaphar says that his 2014 Columbus Day Painting—which greets "Unseen" visitors in the first gallery—was inspired by his young son’s conflicted and confusing study of the putative discoverer of America.

Two Artists in Search of Missing History

A new exhibition makes a powerful statement about the oversights of American history and America’s art history.
by Alicia Ault via Smithsonian on April 4, 2018

1968’s Chaos: The Assassinations, Riots and Protests that Defined Our World

On the 50th anniversary of that extraordinary year, historians consider 1968’s meaning and global context.
by Michael S. Rosenwald via Washington Post on January 1, 2018
Ed Ayers next to the cover of his book, "The Thin Light of Freedom."
partner

The Thin Light of Freedom

On this episode of BackStory, Brian sits down with Ed to talk about a project of his that’s been twenty-five years in the making.
via BackStory on November 17, 2017
Picture of a suburban neighborhood.

The Suburban Horror of the Indian Burial Ground

In the 1970s and 1980s, homeowners were terrified by the idea that they didn't own the land they'd just bought.
by Colin Dickey via The New Republic on October 19, 2016
Valium pills
partner

Mother's Little Helper

How feminists transformed Valium from a wonder drug to a symbol of medical sexism.
via BackStory on May 20, 2016

"Nature’s Nation": The Hudson River School and American Landscape Painting, 1825–1876

How American landscape painters, seen as old-fashioned and provincial, gained cultural power by glorifying expansionism.
by Linda Ferber via Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History on May 1, 2016
Lyndon Johnson looking unimpressed with what Martin Luther King Jr. is saying.

Feeling Versus Fact: Reconciling Ava DuVernay’s Retelling of Selma

“There has never been an honest movie about the civil rights movement,” says civil rights leader Julian Bond.
by Daniel Judt via The Politic on March 28, 2015
Black and white photo of John Muir sitting on a rock

John Muir's Literary Science

The writings of the Scottish-born American naturalist John Muir are known for their scientific acumen as well as for their rhapsodic flights.
by Terry Gifford via The Public Domain Review on June 9, 2011
The Pirates’ Ruse, early 19th century engraving, depicting people standing on deck in view of another ship pretend everything is normal, while armed pirates hide out of view of a nearby American vessel.

The Poetics of History from Below

All good storytellers tell a big story within a little story, and so do all good historians.
by Marcus Rediker via Perspectives on History on September 1, 2010

Pox on Your Narrative: Writing Disease Control into Cold War History

How does the global effort to eradicate smallpox fit into the history of U.S.-Soviet relations?
by Erez Manela via Diplomatic History on March 5, 2010
Cover of Zinn's "A People's History of the United States."

Howard Zinn's History Lessons

"A People’s History" is bad history, albeit gilded with virtuous intentions.
by Michael Kazin via Dissent on April 3, 2004

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