reputation — Bunk History

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The Branch Davidians compound in Waco, Texas, consumed by flames.

What Really Happened at Waco

Thirty years later, an avoidable tragedy has spawned a politically ascendant mythology.

by Rachel Monroe via The New Yorker on April 12, 2023

Collage of DNA sequence and scientists, reading "Your Child's IQ: What Role Does Heredity Play?"

Losing the Genetic Lottery

How did a field meant to reclaim genetics from Nazi abuses wind up a haven for race science?

by Padmini Raghunath via Distillations on April 6, 2023

Richard Nixon discusses Vietnam with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Deputy National Security Advisor Al Haig at Camp David, 1972.

The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon

The rash ruse was central to Nixon’s strategy to fight the Cold War, and can also tell us a good deal about the famously elusive ex-president himself.

by Zachary Jonathan Jacobson via HNN on March 26, 2023

Painting of a pond surrounded by lush vegetation.

A Paradise for All

The relentless radicalism of Benjamin Lay.

by Astra Taylor via Lapham’s Quarterly on March 21, 2023

Graphic including images of Percy Julian.

Percy Julian and the False Promise of Exceptionalism

Reflecting on the trailblazing chemist’s fight for dignity and the myths we tell about our scientific heroes.

by Alexis J. Pedrick via Distillations on March 16, 2023

French pharmacist and self-help guru Émile Coué waves from the deck of a ship, circa 1923. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

America Was Obsessed with This Self-Help Craze 100 Years Ago

Émile Coué, a French apothecary, started an “autosuggestion” craze that was the biggest thing in America in the early 1920s, practiced by millions every day.

by Gordon F. Sander via Retropolis on March 13, 2023

President Jimmy Carter standing behind a podium.

Jimmy Carter's African Legacy: Peacemaker, Negotiator and Defender of Rights

Carter’s work in Zimbabwe forms a significant and underappreciated part of his legacy.

by Nancy Mitchell via The Conversation on March 9, 2023

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.

by Adam Hochschild via The Nation on March 7, 2023

Marihuana revenue stamp $1 1937

1910s Cannabis Discourse and Prohibition

Does marijuana prohibition have racist origins? Where did ideas of “reefer madness” come from? This project looks to the historical record for answers.

by Isaac Campos via The Drug Page on March 7, 2023

President John F. Kennedy meets with William Fitzjohn, Sierra Leone's charge d’affairs in Washington, in the Oval Office on April 27, 1961.

The African Diplomats Who Protested Segregation in the U.S.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy publicly apologized after restaurants refused to serve Black representatives of newly independent nations.

by Francine Uenuma via Smithsonian on February 24, 2023

Illustration of Abraham Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation.

Abraham Lincoln Is a Hero of the Left

Leftists have regarded Lincoln as a pro-labor hero who helped vanquish chattel slavery. We should celebrate him today within the radical democratic tradition.

by Matthew E. Stanley via Jacobin on February 20, 2023

Benjamin Franklin playing chess with Lady Caroline Howe while Admiral Lord Richard Howe looks on, London, December 1774; watercolor circa 1875–1885

Commanders and Courtiers

Lost wars, especially when defeat comes as a rude surprise, inevitably spark painful self-examination.

by T. H. Breen via New York Review of Books on February 2, 2023

Buckminster Fuller looking at a model of a geodesic dome.

Buckminster Fuller’s Hall of Mirrors

Alec Nevala-Lee’s new biography assesses the complicated legacy of an architect better known for his image than his work.

by Daniel Luis Martinez via The Nation on February 1, 2023

Image of Black Seminoles Plenty Payne, Billy July, Ben July, Dembo Factor, Ben Wilson, John July, William Shields.

The Life of Louis Fatio: American Slavery and Indigenous Sovereignty

Louis Fatio seized an opportunity to recount his version of his life—a story that had been distorted and used by white Americans for various political purposes.

by Caroline Wood Newhall via Black Perspectives on January 31, 2023

Censored text and George W. Bush with a black bar covering his eyes. Art by Alex Cochran.

What Really Took America to War in Iraq

A fatal combination of fear, power, and hubris.

by Melvyn P. Leffler via The Atlantic on January 23, 2023

Fossils in an exhibit demonstrating the evolution of horses.

The Bitter Dinosaur Feud At The Heart of Palaeontology

As two warring bone hunters sought to destroy each other, they laid the foundations for our knowledge of dinosaurs.

by Martha Henriques via BBC News on January 19, 2023

Buster Keaton holds himself up against two walls.

Puzzled Puss: Buster Keaton’s Star Turn

Keaton had been on the stage longest, risen the highest, fallen the furthest, and left the most indelible legacy.

by John Lahr via London Review of Books on January 19, 2023

J. Robert Oppenheimer.

J. Robert Oppenheimer Cleared of “Black Mark” Against His Name After 68 Years

Manhattan Project physicist was infamously stripped of his security clearance in 1954.

by Jennifer Ouellette via Ars Technica on December 25, 2022

Corporate executives sitting on musicians

Ticketmaster’s Dark History

A 40-year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam.

by Maureen Tkacik, Krista Brown via The American Prospect on December 21, 2022

U.S. soldiers providing sniper coverage for a meeting in Kandahar, January 2013

The High Cost of American Heavy-Handedness

Great-power competition demands persuasion, not coercion.

by Douglas London via Foreign Affairs on December 20, 2022

Frank Shakespeare in 1968.

Frank Shakespeare, Nixon TV Guru Who Redefined Political Ads, Dies At 97

Mr. Shakespeare's team oversaw ads and on-air events that reflected the rising power of television as a political tool.

by Brian Murphy via Washington Post on December 17, 2022

J. Edgar Hoover collage.

J. Edgar Hoover’s Long Shadow

The FBI’s first director built the agency around some of his own worst instincts.

by Michael Kazin via The New Republic on December 9, 2022

Titian room at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1903.

It Belongs in a Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner builds a place to house her art.

by Nathaniel Silver, Diana Seave Greenwald via Lapham’s Quarterly on December 7, 2022

White students, including Jerry Jones, at Arkansas' North Little Rock High blocked the doors of the school Sept. 9, 1957, denying access to six Black students.

Jerry Jones Helped Transform the NFL, Except When It Comes To Race

Decades after the segregation battles of his youth, Jerry Jones has modernized the NFL’s revenue model but hasn’t hired a Black head coach.

by David Maraniss, Sally Jenkins via Washington Post on November 23, 2022

J. Edgar Hoover in 1924.

How J. Edgar Hoover Went From Hero to Villain

Before his abuses of power were exposed, he was celebrated as a scourge of Nazis, Communists, and subversives.

by Jack Goldsmith via The Atlantic on November 22, 2022

KKK march overlaid on J. Edgar Hoover

How Hoover Took Down the Klan

The FBI’s successful campaign against white supremacists is also a cautionary tale.

by Beverly Gage via The Atlantic on November 20, 2022

Drawing of woman crying over her murdered father.

A Gilded Age Tale of Murder and Madness

In opulent seaside Newport, a wealthy and beloved Black businessman turns up dead. The resulting trial will tear the town in two.

by Kay Adams, Nancy Markey via Narratively on November 17, 2022

Photograph of Donald Trump smiling and giving a thumbs up, with Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. behind him.

A New Documentary Exposes the Truth About the Religious Right

It’s a political movement willing to align with anyone to win.

by Matthew Avery Sutton via Made By History on November 16, 2022

The FTX Arena.

FTX’s Downfall Shows the Problems Exposed by Enron Have Only Gotten Worse

Social media makes it even easier to sell the aura of success that was pivotal to both companies.

by Gavin Benke via Made By History on November 15, 2022

Black and white photo of J. Edgar Hoover sitting at his desk.

J. Edgar Hoover, Public Enemy No. 1

The F.B.I. director promised to save American democracy from those who would subvert it—while his secret programs subverted it from within.

by Margaret Talbot via The New Yorker on November 14, 2022

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