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A plaster cast of an early 1900s jack-o’-lantern, known as a “ghost turnip.”

The Twisted Transatlantic Tale of American Jack-o’-Lanterns

Celtic rituals, tricks of nature, and deals with the devil have all played a part in creating this iconic symbol of Halloween.
by Blane Bachelor via National Geographic on October 27, 2020

Mass Barbecue is the Invasive Species of Our Culinary Times

There's room for the haute and folk traditions but the market-driven style taking over is the most problematic.
by John Shelton Reed via The American Conservative on September 3, 2019
Donald Trump and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

When Presidents Sought a Third (and Fourth) Term

Winning more than two elections was unthinkable. Then came FDR.
by Russell Berman via The Atlantic on May 1, 2025
A photograph of Frederick Douglass imposed on the cover of The Columbian Orator by Caleb Bingham.

The Columbian Orator Taught Nineteenth-Century Americans How to Speak

For strivers like Lincoln, guides to rhetoric had a special currency in the nineteenth century.
by Danny Heitman via Humanities on April 2, 2025
Border Patrol agents stand watch along a barrier.

Mass Deportations Are an American Tradition

Past presidents showed that removing millions of illegal aliens is achievable.
by Jacob Grandstaff via The American Conservative on February 17, 2025
A painting of George Washington on horseback reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland.
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Merry, Manly Militias

Levity and play — eerily combined with anxiety, terror, and deadly violence — shaped the identity and image of Early Republic militias.
by Eran A. Zelnik via HNN on January 28, 2025

Can the Rodeo Save a Historic Black Town?

One woman’s quest to rescue Boley, Oklahoma.
by Caleb Gayle via The Atlantic on December 17, 2024
1908 forest fire in New Hampshire.
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The Burned-Over District

The Northeast caught fire this fall, in a way that recalls its past. History has some lessons about how to manage the region’s fire seasons to come.
by Stephen Pyne via HNN on December 10, 2024
Illustration of kringles in a Christmas parade.

How the Kringle Became a Wisconsin Christmas Classic

Trader Joe’s stocks an aggressively American version of the Dutch pastry, turning it into a beloved holiday staple nationwide.
by Trisha Gopal via Eater on December 2, 2024
A group of children spinning on a merry-go-round.

The Parenting Panic

Contrary to both far right and mainstream center-left, there’s no epidemic of chosen childlessness.
by Aaron Bady via Boston Review on October 30, 2024
Thomas Carlyle.

A Fundamentally Anti-Democratic Tradition: Zack Beauchamp's "The Reactionary Spirit"

Where conservatives may seek to conserve their democratic systems, reactionaries by their nature seek to weaken or abolish them.
by Matthew McManus via Liberal Currents on October 14, 2024
Martin Luther King Jr. speaking to an anti-Vietnam War rally in 1967.

The Anti-War Political Tradition: An Introduction

Anti-war politics has a rich historical tradition, one that seems to be in desperate need of revival.
by Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins via Foreign Exchanges on September 17, 2024
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The Forebears of J.D. Vance and the New Right

Revisiting the Agrarian-Distributists and their fabrication of an American past.
by Olivia Paschal via HNN on September 3, 2024
Still from a "Between the Temples," showing a man and woman lying opposite each other.

How Resilient Are Jewish American Traditions?

"Between the Temples" tackles the anxieties around cultural assimilation—and finds continuity among very different generations.
by Mark Asch via The Atlantic on August 30, 2024
George Caleb Bingham, Stump Speaking (1853–54).

How the American Jeremiad Can Restore the American Soul

One of the country’s greatest rhetorical traditions still has the power to remind us of our founding principles.
by Sam B. Girgus via Bulwark+ on March 29, 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
Korean fried chicken.

Drumstick Diplomacy

Korean fried chicken has a savory story to tell about wartime culture and the Korean diaspora.
by Richard Aldous via American Purpose on March 17, 2024
A couple in bed together, separated by a divider and watched by the girl's parents.

Bundling: An Old Tradition on New Ground

Common in colonial New England, bundling allowed a suitor to spend a night in bed with his sweetheart—while her parents slept in the next room.
by Richard Godbeer, Amelia Soth via JSTOR Daily on February 29, 2024
A collage of red beans and rice with a "Welcome to Louisiana" sign, celebrities from New Orleans, and a Haitian flag.

Red Beans and Rice: A Journey from Africa to Haiti to New Orleans

“It was an affirmation of our city,” says New Orleanian food historian Lolis Eric Elie.
by Joseph Lamour via TODAY.com on February 29, 2024
An advertisement from China for soup with brain meat.

In Defense of Eating Brains

While some in the West are squeamish, globally, it's more common than not.
by Andrew Coletti via Atlas Obscura on February 16, 2024
Watch meeting on New Year's Eve in Grafton, Virginia.

Countdown to Freedom

The significance of New Year’s Eve ‘watch night’ services for Black Americans.
by Chandelis Duster via CNN on December 31, 2023
Reconstruction of a woolly dog.

Mutton, an Indigenous Woolly Dog, Died in 1859

New analysis confirms precolonial lineage of this extinct breed, once kept for their wool.
by Logan Kistler via The Conversation on December 14, 2023
Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust in 2009.

The Bleak, All But-Forgotten World of Segregated Virginia

Former Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust’s extraordinary memoir recalls painful memories for her--and me.
by Garrett Epps via Washington Monthly on November 8, 2023
Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D.
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Hip-Hop's Black Caribbean Roots

The relationship between the DJ and his MC derived from a Jamaican “toasting” tradition and its related “sound clash” culture.
by Alex La Rotta via Made By History on November 6, 2023
Hank Williams Jr.

Whose Country?

It is impossible to talk about the blues and country without talking about race, authenticity, and contemporary America’s relationship to its past.
by Geoff Mann via New York Review of Books on November 2, 2023
The Trubek and Wislocki Houses, 1970, Nantucket, Massachusetts, by Denise Scott-Brown and Robert Venturi.

The Historian’s Revenge

The rise and fall of the Shingle Style ideal.
by Witold Rybczynski via The Hedgehog Review on November 1, 2023
Max von Sydow and Jason Miller in ‘The Exorcist.’

‘The Exorcist’ & Catholicism

What explains the traditionalist Catholic infatuation with ‘The Exorcist’?
by Paul Baumann via Commonweal on October 31, 2023
A woman standing with arms outstretched

The Last Lighthouse Keeper in America

In a technological age, impassioned devotees renew an ancient maritime tradition.
by Dorothy Wickenden via The New Yorker on October 30, 2023

Martin Luther King’s Dream at 60

King offered Americans the choice between acting in accordance with the Constitution and resistance to change.  In many ways, we face the same choice today.
by Eric Foner via The Nation on August 28, 2023
Men wielding muskets.

America’s Original Gun Control

Early in our history, firearms laws were everywhere.
by Robert J. Spitzer via The Atlantic on August 12, 2023
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