Excerpts

An university press editor considers the merits and limitations of biography as a scholarly form.

Telegraph operators were the first to know news of the Civil War.

The intertwined history of mass incarceration and environmentalism in Upstate New York's prison-building boom.

A review of David Blight's new biography of Frederick Douglass.

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.

For centuries, voter fraud has been used as an excuse to restrict the vote.

Voting rights are often associated with the Civil Rights Movement, but this fight extends throughout American history.

Hubert Humphrey and the unmaking of Cold War liberalism.

Christine Blasey Ford, the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, and battles over America's history.

American isn't a Christian nation, but missionaries have always played an integral role in U.S. diplomacy.

In the midst of the secession crisis, Unionists accused slave traders of waging an assault on democracy.

What the substandard conditions at a Pittsburgh nursing home revealed about the choices made by lawmakers and judges.

Seymour Hersh and the ambiguities of investigative reporting.

How Rizzo's blue-collar populism helped him survive his tumultuous first term as mayor.

On his deathbed, GOP strategist Lee Atwater admitted he staged the events that brought down a Democratic presidential candidate.

Asking difficult questions often comes at a cost.

How Southern whites found replacements for their emancipated slaves in the prison system.

What the DNA controversy reveals about race, identity politics, and the Native American present.

50 years after King's death, his image has been transformed and stripped of its radicalism.

Traveling to the heart of Mexico for a Ceremonia del Perdón.

War, famine and persecution inflict profound changes on bodies and brains. Could these changes persist over generations?

An interview with horror historian David J. Skal.

A new study on Civil War prisoners suggests that our parents’—and even grandparents’—experiences might affect our DNA.

Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise. Now he’s reveling in it.

When academics embraced scientific racism, immigration restrictions, and the suppression of “the unfit”.

The Spotify and Ancestry partnership proposes to entertain users based on the narrowest possible conception of who they are.

How mail-order catalogues subverted the racial hierarchy of Jim Crow.

The roots of the attacks on Elizabeth Warren.

DNA’s visual culture and the construction of genetic truth.

A handful of images from Chicago as it was some 75 years ago.

How the right created the illusion of colorblindness.

Wayback Machine Director Mark Graham outlines the scale of everyone's favorite archive.

Congress isn't safe from foreign interference. It never has been.

Why a 47-year old anti-colonialist critique by Chilean dissidents may be newly relevant in the Trump era.

A series of interactive maps showing the results of nearly two centuries of congressional elections.

A makeshift memorial in New Mexico dedicated to Hispanic Union soldiers "looks like just a taco stand, without any tacos."

A new book chronicles the shocking, decades-long effort to combat venereal disease by locking up girls and women.

The battle over where the papers of the Republic of Texas should reside reminds us of the politics of historical memory.

You’re not 28 percent Finnish, either.

Most of President Donald Trump's 20th-century predecessors expressed profound admiration for Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

100 years ago, a mail-order retail giant moved swiftly into the brick-and-mortar business, changing it forever.

The history of labor strikes shows that, in order to achieve lasting success, workers need to capture political power.

From today's vantage, the remarkable achievements of the writer and social justice activist are finally coming into focus.

Columbus wasn't unique in his belief that bizarre, monstrous humanoids inhabited the far reaches of the world.

In 2001, two men were killed by the FBI at a farm in Michigan. Then, 9/11 happened.

To understand Catholic overrepresentation on the U.S. Supreme Court, we must look to the history of American Catholic education.

Here's how it's supposed to handle Supreme Court nominations.

Why a radical group of environmentalists turned to direct action in defense of wild nature.

A new book offers lessons drawn from Harper Lee's ambivalent treatment of this iconic character.

Berea College has paid for every enrollee’s education using its endowment for 126 years. Can other schools replicate the model?