The Day the Great Plains Burned
Ian Frazier, author of the classic book The Great Plains, takes a close look at the catastrophic fires that devastated huge swathes of Kansas and Oklahoma due, in part, to climate change.
Deep River
Before anyone could write a comprehensive discography of golden age gospel recordings, upwards of 75 percent of this uniquely American music got destroyed or lost. Music historian Robert Darden runs the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project to protect and share what’s left.
Paks 1918: A Pogrom and a Prelude
Howard Lovy retells his grandfather’s childhood accounts of anti-Jewish violence and blood libel in pre-Holocaust Hungary.
My Life Cleanse: One Month Inside L.A.’s Cult of Betterness
For one month, one man embraced a number of so-called woo-woo self-improvement practices in his adopted Los Angeles, from crystal healing to “prayer power batteries.” His journey led him to a controversial program called Mastery in Transformational Training, or M.I.T.T.
‘It’s Not Rair, Not Right’: How America Treats Its Black Farmers
Sugarcane is Louisiana’s most lucrative, stable crop, yet lending discrimination, fraud, vandalism, and intimidation keep putting black farmers out of business. It isn’t just sugarcane.
Cancer-linked Chemicals Manufactured by 3M Are Turning Up in Drinking Water
Studies have shown that 3M-made “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS, pronounced ‘PEE-fas’)” found in Teflon, Scotchgard, and fire-fighting foam have been linked to a weakened immune response and cancer. The chemicals contaminate the ground water around the 3M plant in Cotton Grove, Minnesota creating an “underground plume” of pollution that’s 100 square miles in size. The biggest problem? 3M knew of the dangers and has been covering it up for decades.
The American Civil War Didn’t End. And Trump is a Confederate President.
In her new column for The Guardian, Rebecca Solnit makes a solid argument that Donald Trump’s presidency, and his fervent support from white racists, mark an attempt of the Confederacy to rise again.
The Secrets We Keep
A personal essay in which Deena ElGenaidi takes stock of the truths she and her Muslim family members hide from one another.
Theater of Forgiveness
A personal essay in which Hafizah Geter contemplates the personal and cultural legacy of violence against Black bodies.
The Real Origins of Birthright Citizenship
Scholar Martha S. Jones offers a deep dive on pre- and post-Civil War origins of the birthright citizenship provision of the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
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