Bethlehem Steel Mill.

The Steel Mill That Built America

Bethlehem Steel was the birthplace of skyscrapers, bridges, and battleships. What happened after the plant's furnaces went cold?
A settler and a Native American shaking hands amidst a mosaic of huckleberries.

The True Cost of the Huckleberrry Industry

The Ḱamíłpa Band of the Yakama Nation has wanted an end to commercial picking of a critical cultural resource for years.
<p>Earth rising over the Moon, captured by Lunar Orbiter 1, 1966. Courtesy NASA/<a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/1238" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Planetary Society</a></p>

How the Scientists of the 1960s Turned the Moon into a Place

For most of history, the Moon was regarded as a mysterious and powerful object. Then scientists made it into a destination.
Soldiers walking past a sign that says Fort Liberty.

Pete Hegseth Just Did the Funniest Thing Imaginable

It’s Fort Bragg again. So why are Confederate heritage groups so mad?
A group of people riding horses on a dude ranch.

The Rise and Resilience of Dude Ranches

Dude ranches have been a popular American vacation spot for more than one hundred years.
The border of Petersham and Barre, Massachusetts.

‘A Vehicle of Genocide’: These Mass. Towns Were Founded on the Killing of Native Americans

Estimates say that millions of dollars and tens of thousands of acres of land throughout New England were given to soldiers who scalped Native Americans.
Airplane flying over a muddy, congested road near the Hoover-Washington Airfield in the 1930s.

The Humble Beginnings of the National Airport

A swamp with a busy road going right through the middle, Washington’s airport was called “a disgrace.”
Ken Martin and Ben Wikler at a DNC forum.

Ken Martin, Ben Wikler, and the DNC Chair Race’s Midwestern Moment

The region has unique political traditions tailor-made for the momentum gathering behind economic populism in the Democratic Party.
Drawings of Sadie James and Charles Page over a map of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The True Story of Tulsa’s Forgotten Antihero, Sadie James

And a walk downtown in search of her saloon, the Bucket of Blood.
Faneuil Hall in Boston at night.

Why Faneuil Hall Is a Metaphor for the American Revolution’s Complicated Definition of Liberty

How a lively market on Boston Harbor became part of many defining moments of the Colonial and Revolutionary eras.
Mountainous Alaska landscape.

Trump’s Push to Control Greenland Echoes US Purchase of Alaska From Russia in 1867

The tale of how and why Russia ceded its control over Alaska to the U.S. 150 years ago is actually two tales and two intertwining histories.
A collage of rats, trash, rat exterminators, and a rat mascot.

Rats!

Baltimore's long history with its most polarizing pest.
Reenactors working with performance artist Dread Scott in 2019 retrace the route of an 1811 rebellion of enslaved people in Louisiana.

My Gun Culture Is Not Your Gun Culture

In Black Southern life, guns have been a sign of readiness against constant threats.
A map dedication from Osgood Carlton "to the select men of the town of Boston" in 1795.

Practical Knowledge and the New Republic

Osgood Carleton and his forgotten 1795 map of Boston.

Can the Rodeo Save a Historic Black Town?

One woman’s quest to rescue Boley, Oklahoma.
Hawaiian landscape.

The Hawaiians Who Want Their Nation Back

In 1893, a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the Islands’ sovereign government. What does America owe Hawai‘i now?
"I Baptize Thee," 1940 oil on burlap painting of a baptism.

How Memphis Gave Gospel the Holy Ghost

On the evening of October 7, 1952, gospel promoters booked the Spirit of Memphis for a concert in Memphis’s Mason Temple.
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.
Collage of Edna Ferber, a still from the film "Giant," and symbols of Texas.

The Carpetbagger Who Saw Texas’s Future

The notion of political realignment in the Lone Star State is older than you think. It goes back to Giant, an acidic novel by Edna Ferber.
Pedestrians, carriages, and a trolley pass by the State street buildings in Westerville, Ohio.

The Ohio Town That Launched a Whiskey War

Westerville became the heart of the Prohibition movement, deploying everything from hymns to bombs to keep their town dry.
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.
Jade Stevens rests near Lake Putt on land in California’s Tahoe National Forest.

Can Land Repair the Nation’s Racist Past?

California’s approach to Black reparations shifts toward land access, ownership and stewardship.
Signatures on a treaty.

The Treaty on the Severn River

Baltimore is Native American land — that's the first thing I want you to know.
Lancaster Crematorium.

All Is Perfect Quiet

Once again, the crematorium sits silent.
Nan Lurie's "Women's House of Detention drawing in Greenwich Village.

How Greenwich Village Became America’s Bohemia

Greenwich Village’s bohemian and queer culture roots lie in its history of incarcerating women, notably via the Women’s Court and House of Detention.
The famous photo of the eyes from The Great Gatsby.

How “The Great Gatsby” Changed the Landscape of New York City

On Robert Moses, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the culture of environmental waste.
Aerial view of the Klamath River snaking between hills.

The Other Side of the World’s Largest Dam Removal

Removing dams from the Klamath River in Northern California seems like a clear win for fish and rivers. Why do some locals hate it?
Image of the outline of the United States in red fire.

A Dark Reminder of What American Society Has Been and Could Be Again

How an obsessive hatred of immigrants and people of color and deep-seated fears about the empowerment of women led to the Klan’s rule in Indiana.
View of mountains on the horizon

Who Owns the Mountains?

Hurricane Helene has revived urgent questions about the politics of land — and tourism — in Appalachia.
4 photographs of Josie Rudolph Thurnauer through the years 1874-1938.

Josie’s Story: From 19th-Century Sitka To Her Escape From The Holocaust

Josie Rudolph’s life, in an era of worldwide migration and colonial ambition, offers a new perspective on the familiar tale of modern Alaska’s birth.