Brian Balogh

An author's search for the "real" Christopher Columbus.

Columbus Day is here again -- along with the controversy over its namesake. How have earlier generations understood him?

Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech is widely known as one of the greatest abolitionist speeches ever.

How a legal footnote in a Santa Clara County railroad case and the judges who built on it created modern models of corporate personhood.

An explanation of the Manhattan Company, a bank disguised as a municipal water corporation that helped to transform Early Republican politics.

On factional strife in the Early Republic, and why parties themselves were universally despised.

The early controversy over whether or not to build the Washington Monument on the National Mall.

The anxiety about “Mexicanization” that ran through Reconstruction-Era politics, as Americans saw disturbing political parallels with their southern neighbor.

The Mexican origins of the birth control pill, and the trade dispute with the U.S. it generated.

Exploring the origins and impacts of the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," on that event's 50th anniversary.

On America's iconic monuments and the idea of national remembrance.

Two court cases that defined and changed the nature of personhood.

On the movement away from midwifery towards hospital births.

From the Stamp Act of 1765 to the Tea Party Movement, how have – and haven't – American attitudes about taxes changed over time?

The story of a group of people who get together each year to reenact the notorious 1946 Moore’s Ford lynching in Georgia.

Why Marvin Greer spends his weekends playing the part of a slave at Civil War reenactments.

How Buffalo Bill’s Wild West brought scenes from the American West to audiences around the globe.

Cuddle up with your sweetie for stories about three centuries of pre-marital intimacy, from Puritan "bundling" to the back-seat of the parents' Buick.

On who has had access to guns in the U.S., and what those guns have meant to the people who have owned them.

An hour of stories about a few high-stakes inaugurations from the past.