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Book cover of "Kathy Fiscus: A Tragedy That Transfixed the Nation"

Wellspring

The classic story of the child down the well played out in Southern California at the dawn of television.
by Jeffrey Burbank via Los Angeles Review of Books on September 13, 2021
Photos of victims in the 9/11 museum

The 9/11 Museum and Its Discontents

A new documentary goes inside the battles that have riven the institution and shaped the historical legacy of the attack.
by David Klion via Intelligencer on August 26, 2021
Lithograph of people fleeing the Great Fire of Peshtigo on horseback and on foot.

Why America's Deadliest Wildfire Was Largely Forgotten

In 1871, the Wisconsin town Peshtigo burned to the ground, killing up to 2,500. But due to another event at the time, many have never heard about the disaster.
by Erin Blakemore via HISTORY on July 29, 2021
Illustration of 1844 Philadelphia riots

When Philadelphia Became a Battlefield, Its Surgeons Bore Witness

The surgeons’ observations survive thanks to a remarkable document: an eleven-page published report presented to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
by Zachary M. Schrag via Nursing Clio on June 22, 2021
Cover of "Little Lindy is Kidnapped"

We Had Witnessed an Exhibition

A new book about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping focuses on the role played by the media.
by Chris Yogerst via Los Angeles Review of Books on September 24, 2020
Abraham Lincoln

Why We Keep Reinventing Abraham Lincoln

Revisionist biographers have given us countless perspectives, from Honest Abe to Killer Lincoln. Is there a version that’s true to his time and attuned to ours?
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on September 21, 2020
Great white shark

Sharks Before and After "Jaws"

The blockbuster "Jaws" (1975) provoked fear by portraying sharks as "mindless eating machines." But what did people think of sharks before then?
by Jess Romeo, Beryl Francis, Jennifer A. Martin via JSTOR Daily on August 14, 2020
An image of President Donald Trump holding a Bible in front of a church.

The Dangerous Power of the Photo Op

American photojournalism has always been entangled with race and religion.
by Rachel McBride Lindsey via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on June 9, 2020
A shot from behind of Rush Limbaugh giving a speech at a Make America Great Again rally.

The Right’s Reign on the Air Waves

How talk radio established the power of the modern Republican Party.
by Jake Bittle via The New Republic on June 1, 2020

Pandemics Go Hand in Hand with Conspiracy Theories

From the Illuminati to “COVID-19 is a lie,” how pandemics have produced contagions of fear.
by Frederick Kaufman via The New Yorker on May 13, 2020
The cover of Cynthia A. Kierner's "Inventing Disaster," which depicts a shipwreck during a storm.

On Inventing Disaster

The culture of calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood.
by Cynthia Kierner, Anna Faison via UNC Press Blog on November 20, 2019
Cup of McDonald's coffee
partner

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.
via Retro Report on October 28, 2019
Panorama of the Iroquois Theater after the fire, 1903. Photograph by Henry Albert Ericson.

Fire!

A brief history of theater fires in New York City—and the regulations that helped people escape them.
by Olivia Rutigliano via Lapham’s Quarterly on October 7, 2019
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.
by David Klion via The New Republic on September 18, 2019
Workers atop the 70-story RCA building in New York's Rockefeller Center having lunch on a steel beam.

One of the Most Iconic Photos of American Workers is Not What it Seems

But “Lunch atop a Skyscraper,” which was taken during the Great Depression, has come to represent the country's resilience, especially on Labor Day.
by Jessica Contrera via Retropolis on September 1, 2019
Sketches of soldiers on the cover of "Bodies In Blue."

Civil War Disability in the Light and the Dark

Beyond the "casualty numbers and bloodshed," a new history takes into account the "social and structural issues" of disability among soldiers and veterans.
by Sarah Handley-Cousins, Evan P. Sullivan via Nursing Clio on August 6, 2019

The Deadly Race Riot ‘Aided and Abetted’ by the Washington Post a Century Ago

A front-page article helped incite the violence in the nation’s capital that left as many as 39 dead.
by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on July 15, 2019
This photo, taken on the Minnesota frontier, depicts Regina Sorenson and three others "dressed in men's suits." MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Forgotten Trans History of the Wild West

Despite a seeming absence from the historical record, people who did not conform to traditional gender norms were a part of daily life in the Old West.
by Sabrina Imbler via Atlas Obscura on June 21, 2019

How Small-Town Newspapers Ignored Local Lynchings

Sherilynn A. Ifill on justice (and its absence) in the 1930s.
by Sherilynn A. Ifill via Literary Hub on September 26, 2018

The Lost World of Weegee

Depression-era Americans viewed urban life in America through the lens of Weegee’s camera.
by Terry Teachout via Commentary on August 1, 2018
An engraving of a Native American group featuring a chief speaking to a group of men as women prepare cassina next to him and Europeans spectate on the other side.

The Forgotten Drink That Caffeinated North America for Centuries

Yaupon tea, a botanical cousin to yerba maté, is now almost unknown.
by Ben Richmond via Atlas Obscura on March 28, 2018
New Mexico landscape painting by Marsden Hartley.

A Tramp Across America

How a Los Angeles Times editor helped create the myth of the American West.
by Greg Luther via Lapham’s Quarterly on February 19, 2018
Map showing the U.S. broken up into four countries, including an expansive Confederate States of America.

A Map of the Disunited States, "as Traitors and Tyrants Would Have It"

The U.S. divided into Pacific, Atlantic, Interior and Confederate States.
by Frank Jacobs via Big Think on October 30, 2017
Pat Tillman memorial with American flags.

The NFL, the Military, and the Hijacking of Pat Tillman’s Story

Pat Tillman’s life and death is an all-American story. It’s just not the kind that Donald Trump and his supporters want it to be.
by Ryan Devereaux via The Intercept on September 28, 2017
1996 Photograph of Robert B. Smith, 18, is escorted from jail to arraignment for the 1966 slayings of five people in Mesa, Arizona.

The Story of the First Copycat Mass Shooter

Robert Benjamin Smith inaugurated murder for the media age.
by Meagan Day via Timeline on November 7, 2016
Photo of Laura Bridgman wearing opaque eyeglasses.

The Education of Laura Bridgman

She was Helen Keller before Helen Keller. Then her mentor abandoned their studies.
by Rosemary Mahoney via Slate on May 1, 2014

Banging on the Door: The Election of 1872

In the 1872 election, Victoria Woodhull ran for president of the United States – the first woman in American history to do so.
by Joe Richman, Samara Freemark via Radio Diaries on October 13, 2008

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