History

In 1919, a massive wave of molasses marked one of the strangest industrial disasters in modern history. It also marked a major moment in U.S. public policy.

This year, members of the most diverse Congress ever opted for over a dozen different religious and non-religious texts in their swearing-in ceremonies.

Showers, now a mainstay of our daily routines, were once a cure for insanity and criminality.

For people who exercise great power, accountability after death is a small price to pay.

Princeton University historian Kevin Kruse offers lessons in how to push back against the lies of the far right.

New research finds that people living in climatically turbulent regions tend to make riskier decisions than those in relatively more stable environments.

An archive works to conserve the stories of the 1947 Partition of India.

Stephen E. Maizlish's new book discusses a time much like our own, when radicals in Congress hurled insults while moderates bemoaned a lack of civility.

The hurried and partisan Supreme Court confirmation process for Brett Kavanaugh mirrors several notable examples of similarly politicized confirmations from our past.

The author (and puppeteer) discusses climate change, discrimination, and how to write science fiction with a happy ending.

In Tulelake, California, a municipal airport was built on the site of a former internment camp, and now it is at the center of a serious debate over preserving the historical significance of the land.

In his new book Don Mitchell, an emeritus professor of geography at Syracuse University, uses a unique lens to chronicle New York City through the centuries: its protests.

Almost all American archives are at risk from disasters or changing temperatures. Community history will probably be the first to go.

On how politics and fear, rather than the day-to-day risks and realities of life at the U.S.-Mexico border, have historically shaped border policies.

Is a moment of solidarity possible in an age of decentralized media?

White Americans are bound by a false past.

Historian Liam Hogan has spent the last six years debunking the Irish slave myth.

For Pi Day, a mathematician breaks down a figure that goes beyond the universal.

To make sense of the current conversation on immigration, we must look to our country's difficult past.

Companies can reach into their archives to reaffirm their culture and demonstrate a differentiating legacy.

Medicine, history, and rare age disorders are reshaping the way researchers view the process of aging, and it may extend lives for decades.

The roots of the holiday, traced from its origins with pagan Celts through its various modern iterations around the world today.

Right-wing diatribes about Columbus Day combine a fear of the future with a refusal to really look at the past.

How the blurred lines between history and politics turned an architect of destruction into a national icon.