Excerpts

An excerpt from a new book that explores the threat of made-up monsters in the age of imperial conquest.

In the nearly sixty years since the Cuban missile crisis, the story of near-catastrophe has only grown more complicated.

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.

Tracing the long strange trip of the American Southwest, from military camels to retirees in RVs.

A dispatch from a tour of a Cold War-era nuclear test site in the Mojave Desert.

Political contests over the ideological slant of the Court are nothing new.

Court packing obscures more than it reveals about the current debate over the size of the Supreme Court.

A brief history of a political dog whistle.

In name, 'girl watching' is long gone. In practice, the trend lives on.

A new biography of Joseph McCarthy does not reckon with the devastating effects of anti-communism.

Interactive maps showing the historical geography of influential American social movements since the late 19th century.

On Populist programs and democratic central banking.

A history of inflammatory illness epithets.

How systemic racism shaped George Floyd’s life and hobbled his ambition.

It helped erode discrimination but also upheld racial prejudice.

Exploring Virginia’s Fort Monroe – the place where slavery began in British North America, and where, during the Civil War, it began to unravel.

A lesson on contextualizing history.

An interactive map of overland trails that settlers followed on their western journeys.

An interactive map of U.S. canals in the first half of the 19th century.

Our fights over nominees might be bitter, but they’re still less contentious than the 19th century.

Though the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day was celebrated in the early 1990s, the idea took shape many years earlier.

A review of "How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America."

There has been some famous presidential campaign moments in the past 50 years. However, not everyone knows or remembers these moments.

That’s the lesson of Dwight Eisenhower’s serious heart attack.

Osteopathy was founded by a 19th-century healer who believed the body was a self-healing machine.

This 1952 textbook serves as an example of the "patriotic history" that Donald Trump grew up with and calls for today.

Are White House doctors keeping the public adequately informed about President Trump’s battle with COVID-19?

Born 14 years after the nation's founding, the tenth commander-in-chief still has one living grandson.

The administration’s historically low ceiling for refugee resettlement may signal the end of an era.

A new book charts the long contest between elites and the forces of democracy seeking to dismantle their power.

Until the 1600s, Spain, France and Portugal were much bigger players in the settlement of the New World.

The authors of a new photography book explain how their project took shape.

A McDonald’s breakfast buffet. An all-you-can-eat Taco Bell. This isn’t the stuff dreams are made of, but a real yet short-lived phenomenon.

The president's "1776 Commission" marks a turning point in his rhetoric.

Far from being a recent or 21st-century phenomenon, people have chosen, courageously, to trans gender throughout history.

President Trump has alarmed Jewish leaders by appearing to endorse 'racehorse theory' — used by eugenicists and Nazis last century.

Gains made under Carter’s presidential leadership in the early 1980s might have bought the planet precious time.

Proposals giving tenants the right to purchase their building are being revived as Covid-19 puts renters at risk.

Oceanographer Dawn Wright on how "Treasure Island" led her to map the bottom of the sea.

The danger of President Trump's rhetoric.

On-time elections are a key part of ensuring the promise of American democracy.

Saidiya Hartman’s "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments" is a strike against the archives’ silence regarding the lives of Black women in the shadow of slavery.

Air guitar competitions may seem rather new, but this sport has a long, evolving, and sometimes surprising history.

Hospitalized presidents who don’t enact the 25th Amendment.

On the origins of "going postal."

In the 1940s, journalists fled traditional news outlets to write directly for subscribers. What happened next may be a warning.

As Trump calls for legions to, as he proclaimed, 'go into the polls,' we should recall the sordid episode of voter intimidation that happened in Orange County.

Golf clubs named after Confederate generals are attracting new scrutiny.

A hundred years ago, the U.S. was riven by disease, inflamed with racial violence, and torn between isolation and globalism. Sound familiar?

Grover Cleveland believed that if anything happened to his mustache during his surgery at sea, the public would know something was wrong.