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The Domestication of the Garage

J.B. Jackson’s 1976 essay on the evolution of the American garage displays his rare ability to combine deep erudition with eloquent and plainspoken analysis.

by Jeffery Kastner, John Brinckerhoff Jackson via Places Journal on February 1, 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

Photographs of Lilian Smith and Frank Yerby.

Frank Yerby and Lillian Smith: Challenging the Myths of Whiteness

Both Southerners. Both all but forgotten. Both, in their own ways, questioned the social constructions of race and white supremacy in their writings.

by Matthew Teutsch via The Bitter Southerner on January 9, 2020

It's 2020 and You're in the Future

Some people are young, just not you.

by Tim Urban via Wait But Why on January 2, 2020

Before And After

The allegations against Michael Jackson make listening to his songs a struggle, one that resists the comfort those songs once provided.

by Ann Powers via NPR on December 11, 2019

Advertisement commemorating 25 years of video games since the release of Oregon Trail.

Playing in the Past

Gameplay can be useful in history classrooms – but manufacturers have to think about how children will be affected by the competition.

by Robert Whitaker via Play Stuff Blog on December 9, 2019

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Batuu

To work, a theme park needs to collapse the mythic pasts that it depicts with the pasts of our own lives.

by Deanna Day via Contingent on December 6, 2019

Richard Pryor

A Nigger Un-Reconstructed: The Legacy of Richard Pryor

Comedian Richard Pryor's performance of Blackness throughout his career.

by Mark Anthony Neal via NewBlackMan (in Exile) on December 1, 2019

“Big Elliott” Wright at the Big Apple Night Club.

Set the Country to Stamping

The origins of the Big Apple dance.

by Robert Greene II via Oxford American on November 19, 2019

Trump through a television camera.

How TV Paved America’s Road to Trump

“A brand mascot that jumped off the cereal box”: a TV critic explains the multimedia character Trump created.

by Sean Illing, James Poniewozik via Vox on November 7, 2019

Popeye's chicken sandwich meal.

Why Popeyes Markets Its Chicken Sandwich to African Americans

Popeyes has long cultivated a black customer base — which has positive and negative ramifications.

by Marcia Chatelain via Made By History on November 2, 2019

It’s Time to Make Election Day a Holiday in Law and Spirit

We need to bring back the celebratory atmosphere that animated Election Day in the 19th century.

by Holly Jackson via Made By History on October 22, 2019

Managing Our Darkest Hatreds And Fears: Witchcraft From The Middle Ages To Brett Kavanaugh

America has a history of dealing with witches - and it has culminated in a modern movement of politically active ones.

by Diane Purkiss via Athenaeum Review on October 14, 2019

Lost World movie poster

The 1925 Dinosaur Movie That Paved the Way for King Kong

During a slow day at work, a young marble cutter named Willis O’Brien began sculpting tiny T-Rex figurines.

by Kristin Hunt via JSTOR Daily on October 10, 2019

What the LAPD Recruitment Ad on Breitbart Says About the Department’s History

Becoming an agency that wouldn't dream of advertising on Breitbart will require deep changes.

by Max Felker-Kantor via Made By History on October 9, 2019

The Debt That All Cartoonists Owe to "Peanuts"

How Charles Schulz's classic strip shaped the comic medium.

by Chris Ware via The New Yorker on September 24, 2019

The End of the Golden Era of Chess

The recent passing of Pal Benko and Shelby Lyman draws the curtain on an American period that produced some of the game’s most sparkling play.

by Peter Nicholas via The Atlantic on September 5, 2019

How Davy Crockett Became an American Legend

Was Davy Crockett a sellout? And does it matter?

by Phil Edwards, Coleman Lowndes via Vox on August 7, 2019

What Maketh a Man

How queer artist J.C. Leyendecker invented an iconography of twentieth-century American masculinity.

by Tyler Malone via Lapham’s Quarterly on June 10, 2019

A Short History of Country Music’s Multicultural Mishmash

Or everything that came before Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus walked down that “Old Town Road.”

by David Hajdu via The Nation on June 7, 2019

The Definitive Oral History of TiVo

How the original DVR paved the way for Netflix and the cord-cutter movement.

by Tom Roston via OneZero on April 2, 2019

Newspaper clipping featuring giant championship bat being presented to the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Turned Baseball into a National Sensation

Meet the team that transformed baseball from a pastime to an industry.

by Robert Wyss via The Conversation on March 27, 2019

Drawing of people dancing on a dance floor

A Data-Led Theory to Generationally Divided Dance Floors

Some age groups are more likely to recognize certain songs than others.

by Matthew Daniels, Liana Sposto via The Pudding on February 17, 2019

Still from the Golden Girls.

Deconstructing HIV and AIDS on The Golden Girls

In 1990, one of America's most beloved sitcoms took on the HIV epidemic with humor and sensitivity.

by Claire Sewell via Nursing Clio on December 4, 2018

Frederick Douglass Forum

An online forum on the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass.

by David W. Blight, Leigh Fought, Manisha Sinha, Chris Shell, Noelle Trent, Neil Roberts, Christopher Bonner via Black Perspectives on November 30, 2018

The Surprising History (and Future) of Dinosaurs

For well over a hundred years, paleontology has done double duty as mass entertainment.

by Chantel Tattoli via The Paris Review on September 28, 2018

Illustration of Howard Thurston, gazing into a skull while surrounded by supernatural creatures

Howard Thurston, the Magician Who Disappeared

Overshadowed by more famous contemporaries, the visionary behind “The Wonder Show of the Universe” left a far-reaching legacy.

by Eliza McGraw via Smithsonian on August 9, 2018

"Black Panther" comic book cover.

Black Panther and the Black Panthers

Much is at stake in understanding the history and relationship between black superheroes and black revolutionaries.

by Amy Ongiri via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 23, 2018

A New Golden Age for the Tiki Bar

Half a century after the tropical craze of the 1960s, the modern age of escapism is taking cues from the past.

by Kara Newman via The Atlantic on June 5, 2018

A Timeline of Working-Class Sitcoms

Over the years, there have been surprisingly few of them.

by Kathryn Van Arendonk via Vulture on May 18, 2018

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