Excerpts

The world’s most popular fast food has ancient roots and a royal pedigree.

His photo of Kim Phuc was a transformative moment in a horrible conflict.

The redistricting revolution, fifty years later.

Before it became the New World, the Western Hemisphere was an altogether more salubrious place to live at the time than, say, Europe.

In an effort to address centuries of systemic racism, a new online tool seeks to connect Black, brown, and Indigenous farmers with land and resources.

With Diner, Barry Levinson turned a film about nothing into a male-bonding classic, launched careers, and spawned hits from Seinfeld to The Office.

The influential activist was a strong proponent of Pan-Africanism.

The marriage of twentieth-century avant-gardists Arthur Cravan and Mina Loy was blissfully happy—until his mysterious disappearance.

The nineteenth-century bourgeoisie used morality to assert class dominance — something elites still do today.

Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump may prove that having once been a Democrat is an asset for a Republican presidential nominee for president

When the Supreme Court willfully misreads the Constitution, FDR’s plan doesn’t seem so bad.

Before you grab the 'raw,' some thoughts on how food was before safety and labeling regs were passed.

On the intellectual history of the lines and arrows that have become a standard feature of the news media.

Librarians are once again raising concerns over the book’s depiction of Native Americans.

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement marks the end of an era on the Supreme Court—and a turn toward hard-edged partisanship.

A network of professional librarians seeks to destroy a beloved literary heroine and malign her creator.

How John Marshall, Joseph Story, and Roger Taney strengthened the institution of slavery and embedded in the law a systemic hostility to fundamental freedom and basic justice.

We used to fill our time capsules with fancy stuff. Now we put in junk.

We have always questioned the spiritual and physical effects of alcohol.

In the era of the voting wars, the right to vote is itself a subject of continued partisan, regional, and racial conflict.

Why do we lock up so many people?

Since 9/11 the story behind the Falling Man, and the search for him, is our most intimate connection to the horror of that day.

She used mine shafts as a beer fridge and shot bears to get lard for pie crusts.

Why it's important to know that Marsha P. Johnson did not start the riots at Stonewall.

Everyone from immigration advocates to bigots and nativists have valued family unity.

If you understand why that Civil War statue really went up, the debate over removing it looks a lot different.

The 42 minute recording, acquired by James Carter IV, confirms Atwater’s incendiary remarks and places them in context.

Remnants of the dream of a coast-to-coast tribute to their vision of the South are still visible.

Geisel did not begin his career writing children stories, but selling products.

The Library of Congress is turning to the internet for a new generation of shared culture.

What our mannequins say about us.

A history of modern capitalism from the perspective of the straw. Seriously.

The West cared very much about the Civil War.

The language that has long been critical to covertly mobilizing activism.

The outrage over family separation creates an opportunity to reverse the bipartisan consensus that has long victimized immigrants.

From Stonehenge to Silicon Valley: how technology nurtured New Age ideas in a world supposedly stripped of its magic.

The history of evangelicalism in America is shot through with fear—but it also contains an alternative.

Freedom, fear and friendliness mingle in these emblematic eateries.

The New Orleans Fire Department was accused of not responding immediately and refusing to touch the bodies of victims.

The darkness of the eclipse lit up American minds more than a century ago.

The founding moment of the United States brought a society newly freed from religion. What went wrong?

Americans may be tempted to pat ourselves on the back about the ADA, but we can’t afford to congratulate ourselves too soon.

She saw economic precarity as not just a side effect of racial subjugation, but as central to its functioning.

How Amos Adams Lawrence became an abolitionist.

Pre-Columbian bodies are once again being used as evidence for extraterrestrial life.

Americans tend to think of Walt Whitman as the embodiment of democracy and individualism, but have you ever considered Walt Whitman, the brand?

A review on the many publications about Henry David Thoreau's life for the bicentennial anniversary of his birthday.

Not every concentration camp is Auschwitz. The term is much older.

Piecing together the story of an 1898 lynching in a community that chose to forget most of the details.

A hundred thousand people were killed by the atomic bomb, and these six were among the survivors.