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John Muir and Race

Environmental historian Donald E. Worster pushes back against recent characterizations of Muir as a racist.

Joseph McCarthy and the Force of Political Falsehoods

McCarthy never sent a single “subversive” to jail, but, decades later, the spirit of his conspiracy-mongering endures.

Charismatic Models

There is, and always has been, a vanishingly thin line between charismatic democratic rulers and charismatic authoritarians.
Illustration taken from The Great Gatsby, The Graphic Novel

Greil Marcus Takes a Deep Dive Into "the Stubborn Myth of The Great Gatsby"

An insightful exploration of the ways America has read ‘the Great American Novel.’
Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota.

The Creator of Mount Rushmore’s Forgotten Ties to White Supremacy

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum was deeply involved with the Ku Klux Klan while designing the Confederate memorial at Stone Mountain, Ga.
Drawing of two angels flying above Longfellow

What Is There to Love About Longfellow?

He was the most revered poet of his day. It’s worth trying to figure out why.

Typhoid Mary Was a Maligned Immigrant Who Got a Bum Rap

Now, she's become hashtag shorthand for people who defy social distancing orders.
Graffito picture of Richard Nixon superimposed on lines an German text.

Richard Nixon, Modular Man

Even knowing every awful thing Richard Nixon would go on to do, you had to respect, as the phrase goes, his hustle.

The Loser King

Failing upward with Oliver North.
A photo of William Faulkner

The Road to Glory: Faulkner’s Hollywood Years, 1932–1936

Lisa C. Hickman reconstructs William Faulkner’s tumultuous Hollywood sojourn of 1932–1936.
George Washington's false teeth

Were George Washington's Teeth Taken from Enslaved People?

How the dental history of the nation’s first president is interwoven with slavery and privilege.
Victoria Woodhull speaks as the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives receives a group of female suffragists, January 11, 1871

The Scandalous and Pioneering Victoria Woodhull

The first woman to run for president was infamous in her day.
Photo of Richard Holsbrook on an abstract paint background.

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century

After serving in Vietnam, Richard Holbrooke became a proponent of soft power. He would then contribute greatly to American foreign policy.

Pioneers of American Publicity

How John and Jessie Frémont explored the frontiers of legend-making.
Host Jack Barry and two contestants on the game show "21."

Think Presidential Debates Are Dull? Thank 1950s TV Game Shows

The only debate arrangement that everyone could agree to 60 years ago remains in place today – the game show format.

Historians Write About a Different Jefferson Now: Four Books Show How Different

Four new books show how different, and maybe also why.

The Life and Times of Franz Boas

The founder of cultural anthropology, Franz Boas challenged the reigning notions of race and culture.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle

In 1997, the former Soviet leader needed money, and Pizza Hut needed a spokesman. Greatness ensued.

My Friend Mister Rogers

I first met him 21 years ago, and now our relationship is the subject of a new movie. He’s never been more revered—or more misunderstood.
Cup of McDonald's coffee
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The Misunderstood McDonald's Hot Coffee Lawsuit

Stella Liebeck was vilified when she was awarded millions after spilling McDonald's coffee in her lap. But the facts told another story.
Leland Stanford, oil painting by French artist Ernest Meissonier, 1881. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Was Leland Stanford a ‘Magnanimous’ Philanthropist or a ‘Thief, Liar, and Bigot?’

The railroad baron and governor of California was starkly contradictory and infamously disruptive.
Clarence Thomas.

The Conservative Black Nationalism of Clarence Thomas

A new book discusses the black nationalism at the heart of Thomas’s conservative jurisprudence.
Photograph of Roy Cohn sitting in a wooden brown and yellow upholstered chair.

Covering for Roy Cohn

A documentary about his life and circle is a study in complicity.

A Brief History of Mostly Terrible Campaign Biographies

“No harm if true; but, in fact, not true.”
Malcolm X

Reflections on Malcom X

What we can learn from him and his legacy.

Aaron Burr — Villain of ‘Hamilton’ — Had a Secret Family of Color, New Research Shows

The vice president is best known for killing rival Alexander Hamilton in an 1804 duel. But he was also a notorious rake, historians say.
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What Hawaii’s Statehood Says About Inclusion in America

Conditional inclusion for "model minorities" perpetuates enduring forms of racial exclusion.

How Davy Crockett Became an American Legend

Was Davy Crockett a sellout? And does it matter?

The Man Who Tried to Claim the Grand Canyon

Ralph H. Cameron staked mining claims around the Grand Canyon, seeking to privatize it. To protect his claims, he ran for Senate.

Nancy Pelosi, Impeachment, and Places in History

Nancy Pelosi's reluctance to impeach Trump only denies the reality of his transgressions.

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