Articles

"Dean of Weird Menace Art" John Newton Howitt's "River of Pain", done in 1934 for Terror Tales, is the only one of his pulp paintings known to survive. The rest were destroyed.

Guys and Molls

Bold, garish and steamy cover images from popular pulp-fiction magazines of the 1930s and '40s have made their way from newsstands to museum walls

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Mesopotamian Masterpieces

Exquisite art and artifacts from the world's earliest civilization are dazzling visitors to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dream Assignment

Photographer Bob Adelman's picture of Martin Luther King, Jr., taken 40 years ago, captures one of the greatest speeches in American history

At the 2002 U.S. Chess Championship, the first in which men and women competed together, Shahade (left, losing to Alexander Stripunsky) took the women's title.

Chess Queen

At 22, Jennifer Shahade is the strongest American-born woman chess player ever

In the summer of 1776, Franklin (left, seated with Adams in a c. 1921 painting) advised Jefferson on the drafting of the nation's founding document.

Benjamin Franklin Joins the Revolution

Returning to Philadelphia from England in 1775, the "wisest American" kept his political leanings to himself. But not for long

[ 1942 Harley-Davidson ] National Museum of American History

Wild Thing

For 100 years, Harleys have fueled our road-warrior fantasies

Six accounts by Corps members (a woodcut, from Gass' journal, 1810 edition) have provided grist for generations of historians.

Why Lewis and Clark Matter

Amid all the hoopla, it's easy to lose sight of the expedition's true significance

An 1888 lithograph of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa

August Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

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Rainbow Coalition

Having logged thousands of hours observing chimpanzees and other apes, Frans de Waal (left, at his Atlanta field station) argues that primates, including humans and bonobos, are more cooperative and less ruthless than once thought.

Rethinking Primate Aggression

Researcher Frans de Waal shows that apes (and humans) get along better than we thought

Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Big Cypress Bend boardwalk

Fakahatchee Ghosts

But no exorcisms, please these rare orchids are the stars of a hit movie and a best-selling book

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To Touch the Heavens

Noreen Grice has given the visually impaired a feel for the universe

Tidal wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay

Baywatch

Smithsonian scientists' study of the Chesapeake may benefit a wider world

Legal challenges from environmental groups over a two-year period stymied the efforts of ranger Kate Klein (a mile from her station) to thin a forest tract by commercial logging. A catastrophic fire broke out just days after she prepared a final rebuttal.

Fire Fight

With forests burning, U.S. officials are clashing with environmentalists over how best to reduce the risk of catastrophic blazes

A handful of residents (including Claire and Bill Hale) still summer on Peddock's. The couple, passionate advocates of the island's tranquil beauties want the park service to preserve at least one cottage as a museum.

Shore Thing

In the new Boston Harbor Islands national park area, city dwellers can escape the madding crowds

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Greener Pastures

Some things do get better

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Olmsted's Triumph

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, the New York State legislature set aside the land that would become Central Park

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Korea: A House Divided

Fifty years after the armistice, the two Koreas' legacy of conflict underlies a deepening crisis

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Haute Tomato

I can forgive the French for almost anything. Except dessert

The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt

Egypt's Crowning Glory

New Kingdom customs rise triumphantly from the dead in "The Quest for Immortality," a dazzling display of treasures from the tombs of the pharaohs

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