storytelling — Bunk History

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Paintings by John Singer Sargent: Asher Wertheimer, 1898 (left) and Hylda, Almina and Conway, Children of Asher Wertheimer, 1905 (center), London. Portrait of Mrs. Asher B. Wertheimer, 1898 (right).

A Sudden, Revealing Searchlight

On Jean Strouse and the art of biography.

by Ruth Franklin via Harper’s on October 23, 2024

Talc and soapstone statue from North Carolina.

Who Were the Mysterious Moon-Eyed People of Appalachia?

Tales of strange, nocturnal people haunt the region—and so do theories about who they were, from a lost Welsh "tribe" to aliens.

by Hadley Meares via Atlas Obscura on October 22, 2024

A car in a dark night on an empty road with a ghostly apparition.

The Vanishing Hitchhiker Legend Is an Ancient Tale That Keeps Evolving

The classic creepy story—a driver offers a lift to a stranger who is not of this world—has deep roots and a long reach.

by Mark Hay via Atlas Obscura on October 10, 2024

Cover of American Scary by Jeremy Dauber.

The Historical Seeds of Horror in "American Scary"

Jeremy Dauber's new book explores the themes and origins of the American horror genre.

by Gianni Washington via Chicago Review of Books on October 7, 2024

Cover of "A Great Disorder" by Richard Slotkin, depicting the outline of the United States made out of cracked stone, overlaid with the American flag.

American Mythology

Is the United States a prisoner of its own mythology?

by Tom Zoellner via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 4, 2024

Tourists on a ferry sailing along the coast of Maine.

A Picture-Book Guide to Maine

Children’s stories set on the coast suggest a wilder way of life.

by Anna E. Holmes via The New Yorker on September 8, 2024

Still from the film Medium Cool, 1969.

That Ain't Cool

Capturing the 1968 DNC.

by Sammy Feldblum via The Baffler on August 20, 2024

Portrait of a Black woman; artist unknown, American, circa 1830–1835.

In Search of the Real Hannah Crafts

"The Bondwoman’s Narrative" is the first novel by a Black woman to describe slavery from the inside. Recently, scholars have discovered her true identity.

by Brenda Wineapple via New York Review of Books on July 25, 2024

Close-up of E.E. Cummings, looking off to the side.

The Peculiar Legacy of E.E. Cummings

Revisiting his first book, "The Enormous Room," a reader can get a sense of everything appealing and appalling in his work.

by David B. Hobbs via The Nation on July 22, 2024

Richard Dreyfuss plays shark expert Hooper in Steven Spielberg’s classic 1975 film, “Jaws.”

The Stories Hollywood Tells About America

How three movies set on the Fourth of July reproduce popular myth, but reveal even more through what they leave unsaid.

by Emily Tamkin via New Lines on July 4, 2024

The Jersey Devil, a winged creature with horns and a goat-like head, amidst trees wrapped with vines.

Birthing the Jersey Devil

A mythical creature that lurks in the pinelands of New Jersey has served as a reminder of the horrors that result when reproductive freedoms are destroyed.

by Katherine Churchill via JSTOR Daily on July 3, 2024

Scene from The Burning, 1981.

Why Are So Many Horror Movies Set at Summer Camp?

Isolation and a heady mix of hormones and fear provide the perfect setting for bloody revenge.

by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw via Atlas Obscura on June 17, 2024

Rednecks by Taylor Brown.

The Battle of Blair Mountain and Stories Untold

An interview with Taylor Brown, author of the novel "Rednecks."

by Steve Nathans-Kelly, Taylor Brown via Chicago Review of Books on May 21, 2024

Painting of man finding woman seated at table writing

A Kind of Historical Faith

On the history of literature masquerading as primary source.

by Emma Garman via HNN on May 21, 2024

Richard Slotkin.

“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin

"I was always working on a theory of America."

by Kathleen Belew, Richard S. Slotkin via Public Books on April 19, 2024

Larry David.

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.

by Daniel Bessner via The Nation on April 8, 2024

J. Robert Oppenheimer lecturing in front of chalkboard.

Oppenheimer’s Second Coming

Japanese were interested when Oppenheimer visited Japan as an honored guest in 1960. Will they be also interested in the Nolan film released today in Japan?

by Gregory Kulacki via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on March 28, 2024

Illustration of a literary rejection letter.

There Is No Point in My Being Other Than Honest with You: On Toni Morrison’s Rejection Letters

Autopsies of a changing publishing industry; frustrations with readers' tastes; and sympathies for poets and authors drawn to commercially hopeless genres.

by Melina Moe via Los Angeles Review of Books on March 26, 2024

Drawing of a memorial, with two cutout, brown walls at the front of a walkway that read: reckoning. At the end of the walkway is a monument with a picture of Fred Rouse, and an inscription below it.

Fort Worth's Forgotten Lynching: In Search of Fred Rouse

Retracing the steps of a Texan lynched in 1921 requires a trip through dark days in state history.

by Karen Olsson via Texas Observer on March 18, 2024

Broken statue bust of a Black man.

A Bloody Retelling of 'Huckleberry Finn'

Percival Everett transforms Mark Twain’s classic 'Huckleberry Finn' into a tragedy.

by Tyler Austin Harper via The Atlantic on March 12, 2024

A collage of dance performances.

Dance, Revolution

George Balanchine and Martha Graham trade places.

by Juliana Devaan via The Drift on March 12, 2024

Civil War soldiers on horseback with pistols.

The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth Goes On

A new television miniseries depicts the pursuit of Lincoln’s killer. But the public appetite for tales about the chase began even as it was happening.

by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on March 11, 2024

Hannah Ardent

Anatomist of Evil

Lyndsey Stonebridge’s book hurls us deeper into Hannah Arendt’s thinking, showing us that there was muddle rather than method at the heart of it.

by Stuart Jeffries via Literary Review on February 1, 2024

Nellie Bly.

How Nellie Bly and Other Trailblazing Women Wrote Creative Nonfiction Before It Was a Thing

On the early origins of a very American kind of writing.

by Lee Gutkind via Literary Hub on January 23, 2024

A woman drinking out of a mug

Tasting Indian Creek

I lived on Indian Creek with my grandparents after my mother suffered a nervous breakdown.

by Crystal Wilkinson via Oxford American on January 23, 2024

Sunrise over the Appalachian Mountains

Thicker Than Water: A Brief History of Family Violence in Appalachian Kentucky

Knowing I come from people who lived hard lives and endured terrible things is difficult. Knowing that I come from someone who ruined lives haunts me.

by Angie Romines via New England Review on January 10, 2024

Statue of Pocahontas.

Pocahontas, Remembered

After 400 years, reality has begun to replace the lies.

by Victoria Sutton via Unintended Consequences on December 24, 2023

Silhouette of Oppenheimer wearing a fedora.

How Do We Know the Motorman Is Not Insane?

Oppenheimer and the demon heart of power.

by James Robins via The Dreadnought on December 20, 2023

Latina suffragists Andrea and Teresa Villarreal.

Recovering Histories of Gendered State Violence

And how those with few resources at their disposal found ways to navigate and negotiate even the direst of situations.

by Sonia Hernandez via Process: A Blog for American History on December 19, 2023

Scene from "Schindler's List."

How 'Schindler's List' Transformed Americans' Understanding of the Holocaust

The 1993 film also inspired its director, Steven Spielberg, to establish a foundation that preserves survivors' stories.

by Emily Tamkin via Smithsonian on December 14, 2023

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