Excerpts

Curated stories from around the web.
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Ad for children's aspirin.

‘Candy Aspirin,’ Safety Caps, and the History of Children’s Drugs

The development, use, and marketing of medications for children in the 20th century.

So Long, Shaker Pint: The Rise and Fall of America's Awful Beer Glass

How the entire U.S. came to drink out of a vessel never meant for human lips.

Roger Goodell’s Father Had a Political Backbone—Why Doesn’t Roger?

The NFL commissioner is bending to pressure from a reactionary Republican president—something his father refused to do.

A Brief History of the ATM

How automation changed retail banking.
Neo-Nazis hold flags during a National Socialist Movement rally at Greenville Street Park in Newnan, Georgia, on April 21, 2018.

On the Rise of “White Power”

The author of a book on paramilitary white supremacy discusses the methods and ethics of researching racial violence.
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Should Walt Whitman Be #Cancelled?

Black America talks back to "The Good Gray Poet" at 200.

The Tragedy of 'The Tragedy of the Commons'

The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe.

Inside an Annual Gathering of Abraham Lincoln Impersonators

There were 22 Abrahams at the event, which began in 1990.
Postcard from Florida.
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How Florida Got Its Name

506 years ago, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed in what he christened "Florida."

Empire of the Census

America’s long history of manipulating its headcount for political gain.

Winthrop’s “City” Was Exceptional, not Exceptionalist

A review of Daniel T. Rodgers’ "As a City on a Hill: The Story of America’s Most Famous Lay Sermon."
Lincoln portrait superimposed on rainbow flag

So What if Lincoln Was Gay?

Reflections from the author of a novel that does not shy away from the question of Lincoln's sexuality.
Calvin Coolidge receiving statue of boy scout.

A Young Appreciation of the Old Right

Calvin Coolidge and others are bringing together student libertarians and trads, but that doesn't make for a coherent coalition.

Jackie Robinson Was Asked to Denounce Paul Robeson. Instead, He Went After Jim Crow.

His testimony before House Un-American Activities Committee was a turning point for the baseball hero.
Steve Jobs holds an iPhone.

The Innovation Cult

The function of the "innovation" buzzword is to sustain the myth that business genius creates society’s wealth.

Abraham Lincoln, Joe Biden, and the Politics of Touch

A history of tactile politics.
Crowd at New York's American Union Bank during a bank run early in the Great Depression.

Rewarding Risk

Federal deposit insurance and the 1980s bank crisis.
Paul Revere's ride
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The Media Revolution that Guided Paul Revere’s Ride

An anti-imperialist network made his warning possible.
Political cartoon showing Democrats rigging the election of 1874 through voter suppression of freedmen.

A Very Great Change

The 1868 presidential election through the eyes of a Southern white woman.

The Utter Inadequacy of America’s Efforts to Desegregate Schools

In 1966, a group of Boston-area parents and administrators created a busing program called METCO to help desegregate schools.

The Cautionary Patriotism of the Presidents Adams

Father and son alike, suspicious of too much charisma.

Redactions: The Declassified File

Mueller report censorship raises the question: what’s the government hiding?
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One of the 19th Century’s Most Important Documents Was Recently Discovered

How a rare copy of the U.S.-Navajo Treaty, once thought lost, was found in a New England attic.

The 'Pedestrian' Who Became One of America's First Black Sports Stars

In 1880, Frank Hart wowed audiences at New York’s Madison Square Garden by walking 565 miles in six days.

Trumpism Is the New McCarthyism

Just as as McCarthyism did decades ago, Trumpism conceals the Republican Party’s long-term program to dismantle the public sector.
Harry Truman receives a menorah from Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in 1951.

"The Edge of the Abyss": The Origins of the Israel Lobby, 1949-1954

Today's Israel lobby is one of the most powerful forces in Washington, but how did it start?
Railworkers watch dignitaries on an approaching train.
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How Slave Labor Built the State of Florida—Decades After the Civil War

Behind the whitewashed history of the Sunshine State.
Items from the collection of the French National Conservatory of Video Games.

The Beautiful, Genuine Artistry of Retro Video Games

Amidst so much politics and tribalism, they can provide portals into thoughtfully rendered alternate worlds.
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James Madison Responds to Sean Wilentz

Madison's Notes of the Constitutional Convention answer a current argument on the Electoral College.

When California Went to War Over Eggs

As the Gold Rush brought more settlers to San Francisco, battles erupted over the egg yolks of a remote seabird colony.

Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989

This is not the first time Barr has been accused of covering up official legal findings.
Harper's Weekly illustration titled "The Negro Exodus -- the Old Style and the New," depicting a fugitive slave and exodusters traveling west.

Exodusters: African American Migration to the Great Plains

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.
A detail from the Turner Diaries cover, featuring a man and a woman wielding guns.

It's Time to Stop Talking About a 'National Divorce'

The right's eagerness for a "peaceful separation" of the nation echoes pieces of race war fiction.

North Korea's Unlikely History with Black Radicals

The two groups found common ground in the concept of Juche, or self-reliance.
LBJ at his desk writing.

A Brief History of Slavery Reparation Promises

Several 2020 presidential candidates have called for reparations for slavery in the U.S.

Historians Expose Early Scientists’ Debt to the Slave Trade

Key plant and animal specimens arrived in Europe on slavers’ ships
Mural of Frederick Douglass

The Prophet Is Human

A towering new biography of the great American orator and public intellectual Frederick Douglass.
Elder M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither demonstrates for reparations for slavery.

The Thirteenth Amendment and a Reparations Program

The amendment, which brought an end to slavery in the U.S., could be used to begin a national debate on reparations.

How 'Good Design' Failed Us

What's the role of functionality in design?
Film poster for "Native Son."

"Native Son" and the Cinematic Aspirations of Richard Wright

Novelist Richard Wright yearned to break into film, but Hollywood's censorship of black stories left his aspirations unfulfilled.
OxyContin pills and bottle..

A Blizzard of Prescriptions

Three recent books explore different aspects of opiate addiction in America.
Row of suburban houses.

Welcome to the Radical Suburbs

We all know the stereotypes. But what about the suburbs of utopians and renegades?
Alcmene in pain, giving birth to Hercules.

The (Historical) Body in Pain

How can we understand the physical pain of others?

This Could Be the First Slavery Reparations Policy in America

Georgetown University students consider a fund to benefit descendants of 272 slaves sold by the school nearly two centuries ago.
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'Not a Racist Bone in His Body’: The Origins of the Default Defense Against Racism

The rise of the colorblind ideology that prevents us from addressing racism.
Inside the courtroom during the Ziang Sun Wan trial.

The 1919 Murder Case That Gave Americans the Right to Remain Silent

Decades before the Miranda decision, a Washington triple-homicide paced the way to protect criminal suspects.
Arches National Park in Utah

What Does Gender Have to Do with the Desert?

"Everything, of course."

The Factory That Oreos Built

A new owner for the New York City landmark offers a tasty opportunity to recap a crème-filled history.

Her Ancestors Fled to Mexico to Escape Slavery 170 Years Ago. She Still Sings in English.

The oldest living member of the Mascogos still sings songs in a language she doesn't understand.

A Brief History of America’s Obsession With Sneakers

Invented for athletics, sneakers eventually became status symbols and an integral part of street style.
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