Histories

Rubber bullets fired on protesters can kill. So why are we using them?

Lessons from Frederick Douglass on the tortured relationship between protest and change.

The wacky 1985 classic from Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg's production company, was an early example of the type of kid-centric movie for adults that has become a blockbuster staple in recent years

We asked Pooja: What is this behaviour?

There are different theories and explanations for why subjects rarely smiled in photos prior to the 20th century.

Texas was its own country from 1836 to 1845, and as such, had it's own embassy in America's capital.

The default wallpaper of Windows XP is permanently etched into our collective consciousness. It's estimated to be one of the most widely seen photographs in history. Here's the story of how it became so ubiquitous.

Sexual health and disputes over its meaning reveal the problem at the core of a medical system that requires profit, hence sickness, or people believe they are sick or deformed or lacking and therefore in need of a pill, a procedure or device.

The chemical weapon was originally marketed to police as a way to turn protesters "into a screaming mob."

Demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in the Twin Cities occupied a major artery that tore apart a thriving African-American neighborhood.

On Monday evening, over the course of 48 minutes, Donald Trump put on a show that may have changed America, yet again.

Helicopters were once thought to be an efficient solution for intercity travel. What went wrong?

Ronnie Cox (Cohaagen), Mel Johnson, Jr. (Benny) and Robert Picardo (the face and voice behind Johnny Cab) talk "Total Recall" at 30.

We still don't know how this chaos will turn out, but if you take a hard look at America 52 years ago, it was a grimmer place.

Scholars look to recover the original soundscape of the composer's work.

How we recovered and re-assembled Days of Thunder, an unreleased, never-before-seen title.

How did neutrality become one of the main principles of Switzerland's foreign policy? Johnny Harris explains the history of this fundamental Swiss worldview.

Where does the classic American lawn come from? The answer lies with one of the famed fathers of urban architecture.

How talk radio established the power of the modern Republican Party.

There's a fascinating history behind the pipe symbol bars on our keyboards.

The iconic figure of Bob Dylan is as synonymous with deeply poetic works of folk rock bliss as he is for being a camera-shy and reserved artist in his later years.

The most powerful people and institutions in the South spread paranoia and fear to protect slavery. Their beliefs led the country to war — and continue to haunt our politics to this day.

Two bands of young European Christians had their eyes on Jerusalem but failed to reach it. Historians are still seeking their full story.

During World War II, Japan came close to launching surprise attacks on New York, Washington, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Here's the story behind their submarine aircraft carrier that never fully utilized its full capacity.

YouTube's cofounders originally thought "a generic platform where we could host all the videos on the internet" was too bold of an idea. So for about a week, the site was a dating platform — until it wasn't.

Deep in the Andean rainforest, the bark from an endangered tree once cured malaria and powered the British Empire. Now, its derivatives are at the center of a worldwide debate.

The rebellion, after failing, had succeeded. And not just at advancing freedom. "The Christmas Uprising" in Jamaica was a groundbreaking action and a model; its enslaved leaders anticipated the methods of later revolutionary movements—from the Irish Republican Army to Gandhi's struggle against the British, from the French underground fight against the Nazis to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Robert Zemeckis' animated/live-action hybrid noir murder mystery broke boundaries of filmmaking technology and technique, and 32 years later it's every bit as fresh, warm, and funny as it ever was.

When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs hit Earth, it struck at an angle that maximized its destructive potential, according to new computer simulations of the catastrophic event.

A coming novel tells the story of the piano student who was the dedicatee of one of classical music's most famous works.

The legend has done the impossible again by bringing skateboarding into the mainstream.

No two diseases are the same, but we may be able to draw upon what happened in prior outbreaks - including measles, smallpox, cholera and more to illuminate the path forward.

The "All the Things She Said" generation is now grown up, sparking a cultural shift in their anti-gay nation. Does it matter that t.A.T.u. were never the real deal?

Once derided by critics put off by his then-new taste for color photography, "American Surfaces" is now considered one of the most famous photo series of all time.

Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, idols of the Golden Age of sports, brought stardom to America's pastime.

For years, Paul Rivet opposed the ideology fueling Hitler's rise. Then he helped French fighters take the battle underground.

Marga Griesbach was sent to Stutthof concentration camp in 1944. In February, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic began, she left Washington State to take a cruise around the world.

A perennially lost island caught up in a land dispute in the Mediterranean Sea keeps reappearing every couple of years.

You need to get 500 tons of supplies from Fairbanks, Alaska to the Arctic Ocean — a journey of about 400 miles through pure wilderness. There are no roads, very few airstrips, endless ice and minus 68 degree temperatures. You, my friend, need a LeTourneau land train.

The conspiracy theories circulating in 2020 are more diffuse and less coherent than the disinformation propagated by the KGB and the Stasi in the 1980s, but the two periods bear distinct similarities.

"That was when the metaphor of the taxi cab occurred to me. That is what I was: this person in an iron box, a coffin, floating round the city, but seemingly alone."

The class of 2020 has no idea what the future holds — and neither do we. Here's a look back at some icons starting on their paths to renown.

Nostalgia is a powerful force—especially when parked in long, shiny rows.

In 1998, Lucy Lawless brought down Studio 8H with an impression of the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman imagined as the owner of a bad Mexican restaurant. The sketch is not one of SNL's most famous, but in the two decades after its airing, it has garnered a cult following.

For 17 days in the summer of 1945 there was no news in New York City. Well, there were no newspapers. Well, it was hard to get a newspaper.

I thought the Universal Serial Bus was supposed to be Universal. Here's an intriguing history of why USB keeps changing.

When the Roosevelt administration rolled out millions of dollars to fund artists, musicians, writers and actors, it wasn't just about job creation. It was to unite a nation in turmoil.

In 1942, a group of African American sailors were chosen to integrate the Naval Officer Corps, forever changing what was possible in the US Navy.

The probable cause is also one of the primary ingredients in the world's favorite psychedelic.

Earlier this month, a "Twilight"-related tweet caught my eye. It was a simple question posed by author Casey McQuiston: "Did Edward Cullen dodge the draft?" I investigated.

The iconic maze chase has been played billions of times, created one of the 80s' strangest sex symbols, stupefied Martin Amis — and is now enshrined in a leading art museum.

For centuries-old bars, a pandemic is nothing new.

James Hemings' talents had been nurtured by Jefferson who took him to France & gave him a first-rate culinary education from Europe's most illustrious chefs. Yet, every moment he spent in Jefferson's kitchens, he did so in servitude.

From "I Love Lucy" to "The Big Bang Theory," here are the most-viewed TV shows for the past 70 years.

Was there really a flood? If humans are separate from the animal kingdom, how did we first arrive or appear on Earth?

The story of how a El Al Boeing 747 jumbo jet flew 1,088 passengers all at once.

From 1946-1956, many Americans mailed money to a man alleging he was a still-alive Hitler, plotting a revolution with "invisible spaceships." He signed his letters "Furrier No. 1."

If only Tyrrell F1 had read up on the Pat Clancy Special, the first six wheel weirdo to try its luck.

BlackBerry went from controlling the global smartphone market to the bottom of the scrap heap in one of the greatest falls from grace in business history.

Justin Roiland reflects on his early filmography, making weird videos for the internet and finally getting his big break.