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Oscar Wilde

“A Nation of Lunatics.” What Oscar Wilde Thought About America

On the Irish writer’s grand tour of the Gilded Age United States.
John Montgomery Ward and Helen Dauvray.

Before Taylor and Travis, There Was Helen and John

She was an actress. He was a shortstop. What we can learn from the press parade around this 19th-century power couple.

The Fake-News Fallacy

Old fights about radio have lessons for new fights about the Internet.

Here's How Memes Went Viral - In the 1800s

The Infectious Texts project is the compilation of 41,829 issues of 132 newspapers from the Library of Congress.
Censored stills of a naked man running.

The Decline of Streaking

Naked runners used to disrupt events seemingly all the time. Why’d they stop?
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Alt Text

A brief history of the textfile, and the production of conspiracy theories on the internet.
Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech.
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The Problem With Comparing Today's Activists to MLK

Media coverage of the civil rights movement is a reminder that the deification of King has skewed public memory.
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh

Radio and the Rise of Conservatism

Right-wing radio stations are tied to an increase in conservatism among listeners.
Kris Kringle with children from the film 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.'
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A Classic Christmas Movie Offers a Lesson About Antisemitism

Nazis play a key role as villain in American collective consciousness—but without broad understanding of antisemitism.
A poster of a colonial man ringing a bell in front of Independence Hall with the words "4 Minute Men" at the top
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The US Propaganda Machine of World War I

As the United States prepared to enter World War I, the government created the first modern state propaganda office, the Committee on Public Information.

Traffic Jam

Ben Smith’s book on the history of the viral internet doesn’t truly reckon with the costs of traffic worship.
Panting of a woman lounging with a book, titled “Dolce far niente” (The Sweetness of Doing Nothing), by Auguste Toulmouche, 1877.

We’re Distracted. That’s Nothing New.

Ever since Thoreau headed to Walden, our attention has been wandering.
J. Edgar Hoover and two other men pose with guns.

The Cult of J. Edgar Hoover

A zealot through and through, he ran the FBI like a religious sect.
Patrick ‘Ace’ Ntsoelengoe in action for the Toronto Blizzard.

How Apartheid, European Racism and Pelé Helped Cultivate a Culture of Diversity in US Soccer

Major League Soccer – which starts the 2023 season on Feb. 25 – is deemed the most diverse league in the US. Its predecessor, the NASL, led the way.
Naomi Oreskes, sitting with her hands resting on her knees

America's Toxic Romance With the Free Market

How market fundamentalists convinced Americans to loathe government.
Cover of Ms. Magazine titled "Rage + Women = Power"

Ms. Magazine Turns 50

Looking back at half a century of truth-telling and rebelling.
Patrick Ewing makes a move against Larry Bird and Mark Acres on the basketball court.

The Myth of the Knicks

In Chris Herring’s recent history of the New York basketball team, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the sports commentariat’s fixation on grit and toughness.
Roi Ottley and other African American panelists on radio quiz program.

How African Americans Entered Mainstream Radio

For nearly 50 years, commercial radio companies only employed white broadcasters to target information and entertainment to mainstream America.
Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole standing alongside an elephant on Capitol Hill, 1995.

Myths of Doom

Can the origins of today’s right be traced to the 1990s?
Lord Beaverbrook and Winston Churchill on the HMS Prince of Wales during the Atlantic Conference, Newfoundland, Canada, August 1941.

The Limits of Press Power

To what extent did newspapers influence public opinion in the US and Britain before and during World War II?
A picture of switchboard operators.

Intimacy at a Distance

Hannah Zeavin’s history of remote and distance psychotherapy asks us whether the medium matters more than the message.
Phyllis Schlafly and a group of supporters with signs and "Stop ERA" buttons.

The End of the Equal Rights Amendment

As the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment lapsed in June 1982, the amendment's foes celebrated, while its proponents looked to the future.
Visitors browse newspaper front pages from the day after the 9/11 terror attacks at the Newseum in Washington, D,C., in 2016. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

When History Is Lost in the Ether

Digital archiving is shoddy and incomplete, and it will hamper the ability of future generations to understand the current era.
Art relating to the News Media by Beck & Stone.

News for the Elite

After abandoning its working-class roots, the news business is in a death spiral as ordinary Americans reject it in growing numbers.
Neil Young, on left, and UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan.
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What The Neil Young-Joe Rogan Dust-Up Tells Us About The Music Industry

The music industry is thriving — but it’s not always trickling down to artists.
Professional wrestling ring surrounded by audience.

“You Know It’s Fake, Right?” Fandom and the Idea of Legitimacy in Professional Wrestling

Promoters and performers in pro wrestling began increasingly prizing entertainment value over maintaining the appearance of legitimate contests.
The full chart of television genres from 1945 to present.

Television Genres Over Time

Here’s how the distribution of genres has changed since 1945 up to present.
The cover of the book Her Stories by Elana Levine

Guiding Lights: On “Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History”

Annie Berke reviews Elana Levine's book on a pivotal genre and its diverse fandom.
Illustration of two women.

Why Norma McCorvey Switched Sides

The perils of turning the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade into a political symbol.
The Mean Girls Game for DS

Meet the YouTubers Determined to Find Lost Media

New media meets old.

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