Nathaniel Hawthorne

Whatever the “City on a Hill” is, the phrase was not discovered by Kennedy or Reagan.

At the end of the nineteenth century, a wave of women rethought what journalism could say, sound like, and do. Why were they forgotten?

Why Thomas Morton seems to have taken particular delight in driving the Pilgrims and Puritans out of their minds.

Jefferson revised the Gospels to make Jesus more reasonable, and lost the power of his story.

The creator of ‘The Twilight Zone’ dramatized isolation and fear but still believed in the best of humanity.

Celtic rituals, tricks of nature, and deals with the devil have all played a part in creating this iconic symbol of Halloween.

Andrew Delbanco's new book positions the debate over fugitive slaves as a central factor in the nation's slide toward disunion.

Whether we consider the sounds of nature to be pleasant or menacing depends largely on our ideologies.

Hannah Duston was used as a national symbol of innocence, valor, and patriotism to justify westward expansion.

A digital exhibit on the history and legacy of the canal.

The surprising persistence of Henry David Thoreau.

The great bonfires of Gallows Hill—and what they tell us about America.

That the federal government created this health care system for merchant mariners in the early American republic will surprise many.