Bunk combs the web for new interpretations of American history, and highlights the fascinating connections between them.
Biography
A Forgotten Eyewitness to Civil-Rights-Era Mississippi
As resistance to integration mounted, Florence Mars bought a camera and began to photograph many subjects, including the trial of the killers of Emmett Till.
Book Excerpt
The Fight for Justice Starts with Blocking Judges Who Are “Tough on Crime”
The story of how Ed Carnes became a judge offers crucial lessons for those who hope to unwind the policies of mass incarceration.
Retrieval
A Linear Morse Code
How fifty years of barcode magic came to be.
Biography
Joe Hill Was Killed for Singing Labor’s Song
The labor troubadour Joe Hill was executed by a Utah firing squad for a crime he almost certainly didn’t commit.
Film Review
"A Long Way to Go and a Short Time to Get There"
In the 1970s, trucker films like "Smokey and the Bandit" celebrated rebellious, working-class solidarity and freedom, with complex politics at play.
Argument
A Short History of Conservative Trolling
On the laughing emptiness at the center of the Republican Party.
Book Review
Friend of the Family
Jean Strouse explores the relationship between the Anglo-Jewish Wertheimers and John Singer Sargent, who painted twelve portraits of them.