Mark Twain

Dorsey and Thomas amassed important collections at a time when the future of chattel slavery and Black life hung in the balance of a national quarrel.

Historical narratives of the United States have never not been shaped by an anxiety about the end of it all. Are we a new Rome or a new Zion?

Thomas Dixon’s racist discourse lurks in American politics and society even today.

The long and complicated life of Kipling's famous poem.

What happened to the great defender of Empire when he settled in the States?

On reckoning with a fraught literary history.

Americans tend to see their country as a nation-state, not an imperial power.

Locomotives. Not trains. Locomotives.

Our identity is mapped at our fingertips, but also, maybe, our individual fate.

David Blight reviews Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant.

Longtime tenant in the 165-year-old St. Denis building in New York City reflects on the building's history.

That's the conclusion of a psychology study published in the journal Sciece.

Tesla created inventions that continue to alter our daily lives, but he died nearly penniless.

An enigmatic 1898 work about the progress of man.

Ron Chernow’s biography reminds our 21st-century selves of the distinction between character and personality.

The great short story writer and poet wrote many a book review.

After gunning down his wife's lover in broad daylight, Daniel Sickles tried to escape the gallows by claiming he was out of his mind.

How America's persistent preference for brash boys over "sivilizing" women fueled the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Before the word processor, perfect copy was the domain of the typist—not the literary genius.

Ross Bullen explores the curious case of Prince George Washington, a 19th-century Siamese prince.