Tag: History

How Coretta Scott King’s “grace, diginity, and poise” in the face of horrific tragedy fuelled the Civil Rights Movement.

Kind of takes the thrill out of your Cadbury Creme, your Kinder Surprise.

It has stifled suffrage, blamed immigrants for chaos, and suppressed civil rights. It’s also how Donald Trump views the entire world.

Contemplating history, family, and today’s America, Dane A. Wisher tells the story of spreading his father’s ashes on the battlefield at Gettysburg National Park and coming to terms with his life and death.

Those who would build enormous structures—skyscrapers, bridges, border walls—should do so with an eye toward their eventual ruin.

A madman versus a crook? Unexpected twists? Fake news? Welcome to the election of 1800.

Meet the lifestyle and wellness hawkers of 13th century Italy: the Monks of Santa Maria Novella.

The first report from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966 was a passionate defense of the government’s role in the arts.

“Get Off the Track!” borrowed the melody of a racist hit song and helped give a public voice to the abolitionist movement.

Louisiana Rien Fertel explores the complex history of New Orleans’ flambeaux — the men who carry the torches that light the way for Mardi Gras parades — in Oxford American.

Des Kappel is the toponymist in charge of naming the 90,000 remaining land features and lakes in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Kappel’s work is often an emotional tour through history as he collects letters and photos of war casualties for his database.

Dead bodies, thieves, skulls, and historical bits of ephemera that fly out of pockets on the passage down are just some of the hidden secrets that laundry chutes reveal.

Running a bookstore is hard enough, but the business of feminist bookstores is deeply entwined with both politics and money.

Historian Merry Ellen Scofield, writing in Common-Place, dives deep into the intricacies of 19th century social etiquette: calling cards, the hierarchies and politics of who visits who and when, and the details of the cards themselves.

The homogenizing force of globalization means that a shopping center in Budapest doesn’t look all that different from one central Turin, or York, or Cleveland. Is “Eastern Europe” as an idea disappearing? Try Jacob Mikanowski’s essay in the LA Review of Books for some suggestions (and some objections).

In his book Brick by Brick, David Robertson outlines the early successes and failures of the Denmark-based LEGO Group.

Andrew Curry’s thorough history of our relationship to and use of alcohol is informative, enlightening, and just plain entertaining.

Revisit a fascinating story from Smithsonian Magazine on what the discovery of a 3,500-year-old soldier’s tomb in southwestern Greece tells us about the Mycenaeans, the Minoans, and the roots of Western civilization.

Of all the articles written about Obama over the years, the ones that intrigued me most were the ones that helped me get to know the man and what he stood for, just a little bit better. With this reading list we remember the man, his time in office, and take a peek at what’s in store after the White House.

The lessons we are drawing from her work may not be the one we most need to learn.

“The very foundations of my way of life are in white supremacy, and the list of microaggressions I have committed, and will no doubt continue to commit in spite of my “good intentions” for as long as I’m alive, is virtually endless.”

Darrin DuFord uncovers the history, meaning, and ongoing controversy behind the true “Panama Hat.”

Black Cardigan is a great newsletter by writer-editor Carrie Frye, who shares dispatches from her reading life. We’re thrilled to share some of them on Longreads. Go here to sign up for her latest updates. *** Harriet Hardiman was ‘a cat’s meat man.’ That is, she went out most days with a handcart full of chopped meat on skewers […]

When Donald Trump and the GOP Convention arrive in Cleveland, they will find a city with a long history of violent outbursts, racial tension—and brushes with fascism. In short, the perfect stage for the 2016 presidential campaign. Kyle Swenson explores the history of his hometown.

Five centuries after Thomas More’s classic was first published, we still dabble in perfect-world-building.

The end of divine rule in postwar Japan, and the absolute power of General MacArthur.

The curious quest to trace the history of a sex toy found in a 19th-century Quaker family home.

In a new story for Wired, Bijan Stephen looks at how the Black Lives Matter movement uses social media to organize and fight for change. As Stephen writes, “any large social movement is shaped by the technology available to it,” tailoring their goals and tactics to the media of their time. For the nascent Black Lives Matter […]

Buddy Holly, John Wayne, and the A-Bomb.