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Lined-paper illustration of Tom Watson Jr. and Sr.

The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’

What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us.
Joel Roberts Poinsett (left). The poinsettia, which takes its name from Poinsett (right).

Poinsettia Day, the Monroe Doctrine, and U.S.-Mexican Relations

The troubled history of the famous poinsettia plant.
Mary Vanderlight’s Titled Account Book, from the collections of the John Carter Brown Library.

The Brown Brothers Had a Sister

Women’s work is often hidden or marginal within historical records that were meant to show men’s economic and political lives.
Blanche and Alfred Knopf

Toward the Next Literary Mafia

Understanding history can help us understand what will be necessary if we’re serious about finally having a more diverse, less exclusionary publishing industry.
Illustration of multiple people drawing the same cover of a book

Big Publishing Killed the Author

How corporations wrested creative control from writers and editors—to produce less interesting books.
Milton Friedman in front of a graph.

The Myth of the Friedman Doctrine

Friedman's viewpoint went far deeper and has been more lasting than the politics of 1970.
Abacus, mathemeticians, and zeros and ones.

How Everything Became Data

The rise and rise and rise of data.
Collage of Ebony cover, makeup ad, and card catalogue.

Rebrand

"Ebony" strives to become a one-stop shop.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Voices from the Wilderness

The actual history of New Deal policies provides little evidence that it was a rollicking success.
Coke bottle littering a beach.

How Coke Killed the Refillable Bottle

Coke knew their plastic would trash the planet…and did it anyway.
A family listening to radio in the 1930s.
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Today's Media Landscape Took Root a Century Ago

Decisions made now could shape the next 100 years.
Cotton plants.

Understanding Capitalism Through Cotton

Looking at the development of cotton as a global commodity helps us understand how capitalism emerged.
The Northern Pacific Railway.

How One Robber Baron's Gamble on Railroads Brought Down His Bank

In 1873, greed, speculation and overinvestment in railroads sparked a financial crisis that sank the U.S. into more than five years of misery.
Cover of a book on President Bill Clinton's failures.

The Left Can’t Stop Wondering Where Bill Clinton Went Wrong. The Answer Explains a Lot.

Clinton’s role in decoupling the Democratic Party from mainstream labor, first in Arkansas and then nationally, had dire consequences.
Strikers outside Walt Disney Studios in 1941.

Disney Animators Strike During WWII Changed the Company — and Hollywood

The 1941 strike, following the spectacular success of “Snow White,” stunned Walt Disney and rattled his now-storied company.

The Ultimate Road Trip

On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs.
Attendees of the 1908 Conference of Governors.

When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental Catastrophe

A historic 1908 conference transcended party and personal interest for the ‘common good.'
Tom Scully, stethescopes, and money.

Patient Zero

Tom Scully is as responsible as anyone for the way health care in America works today.
The male-dominated field of pop songwriting.

Women are Superstars on Stage, but Still Rarely Get to Write Songs

Songwriting credits since 1958, broken down by gender.
A businessman superimposed over the Wall Street skyline.

How Not to Tell Stories About Corporate Capitalism

Turning the history of capitalism into a morality tale about good guys and bad guys is tempting.
20th century American political cartoon depicting the goals of organized employer associations.

Employer Organizing: The Importance of Hobnobbing

The focus of labor history is often—unsurprisingly—workers’ organizations and what has made them thrive or languish. But employers organized, too.
Sculpture of Thinking Woman, by Louis Fleckenstein, 20th century.

The Birth of Brainstorming

Meet the self-help author who wanted to teach corporate America how to think.
Collage of baseball caps

The History of the Baseball Cap

The long, strange, history of the baseball cap.
Flight attendant serving a full meal.

Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

Why were in-flight meals so much better in the past?
Boxing great Joe Louis stands in a gymnasium boxing ring as if ready for a match.

How Racist Car Dealers KO’d Joe Louis

A never-before-published tranche of letters reveals the white-collar racism that prevented the world’s most popular athlete from selling Fords.
Painting of Noritoshi Kanai and Harry Wolff Jr. and various sushi preparations, by Yuko Shimizu.

How Two Friends Sparked L.A.’s Sushi Obsession — and Changed the Way America Eats

An unlikely pair of Southern California businessmen paved the way for the sushi revolution in Los Angeles, upending American dining — and their own lives.

Traffic Jam

Ben Smith’s book on the history of the viral internet doesn’t truly reckon with the costs of traffic worship.

Activist Businesses: The New Left’s Surprising Critique of Postwar Consumer Culture

Activists established politically informed shops to offer alternatives to the consumer culture of chain stores, mass production, and multinational corporations.
Ferris wheel at the Chicago World Fair of 1893.

The Magic Lantern Man

At every stop, he enthralled audiences with a device called a “stereopticon.”
Dilapidated traffic sign reading "School Bus Stop Ahead."
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Child Labor In America Is Back In A Big Way

The historical record says we shouldn’t be surprised.

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