History

The prime minister oversaw the war from a London bunker (the Cabinet War Rooms, above, adjacent to the new Churchill Museum) and from the field. In 1909, at age 35, he had already expressed an ardent desire to "have some practice in the handling of large forces."

Contemplating Churchill

On the 40th anniversary of the wartime leader's death, historians are reassessing the complex figure who carried Britain through its darkest hour

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Second Thoughts

Things are not always what they seem

Among items the archaeologists unearthed were a toothbrush (above) and a gaming die . The artifacts now repose in 630 boxes.

Where East Met (Wild) West

Excavations in a legendary gold rush town uncover the unsung labors of Chinese immigrants on the frontier

Costume designer Charmaine Simmons conceived Jerry's foppish garb to be both "uncomfortable" and "unwearable."

The Shirt Off His Back

Jerry Seinfeld's silly, frilly prop takes its place in television history

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February Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

A Fine Boy

With a little help from a rattlesnake's rattle, Sacagawea gives birth to a baby she names Jean Baptiste

At 23.1 carats, the gem is one of the largest Burmese rubies in the world.

Romance And The Stone

A rare Burmese ruby memorializes a philanthropic woman

James Meredith, center, is escorted by federal marshals on his first day of class at the University of Mississippi.

Down In Mississippi

The shooting of protester James Meredith 38 years ago, searingly documented by a rookie photographer, galvanized the civil rights movement

An animal shelter the author started in 2004 cares for Kabul's stray dogs and cats (including this mother and her pups being treated by veterinarian Mohammed Yasin).

Assignment Afghanistan

From keeping tabs on the Taliban to saving puppies, a reporter looks back on her three years covering a nation's struggle to be reborn

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Out of the Shadows

African-American architect Julian Abele is finally getting recognition for his contributions to some of 20th-century America's most prestigious buildings

Each evening in northern Uganda, children by the thousands leave their huts to trek to safe havens to avoid fanatical rebels.

Uganda: The Horror

In Uganda, tens of thousands of children have been abducted, 1.6 million people herded into camps and thousands of people killed

Homesteader Jack Whinery and his family lived in a "soddy"—a dugout home with log walls and sod roof. Electricity came to Pie Town in the 1940s; telephones in the '60s.

Savoring Pie Town

Sixty-five years after Russell Lee photographed New Mexico homesteaders coping with the Depression, a Lee admirer visits the town for a fresh slice of life

After the Bristish occupying army left Boston, Washington issued general orders (above) to his troops to "live in the strictest Peace and Amity with the [city's] inhabitants." He also urged the town fathers to turn over remaining British supplies and identify spies.

Washington Takes Charge

Confronting the British in Boston in 1775, Gen. George Washington honed the qualities that would carry the day in war and sustain the new nation in peace

Lewis and Clark

Dangerous Liaisons

Severe cold and fraternizing with the Mandan keep Meriwether Lewis' doctoring in demand

Overview of the former village of New Philadelphia, Illinois

Ahead of Its Time?

Founded by a freed slave, an Illinois town was a rare example of biracial cooperation before the Civil War

American POWs in North Vietnam lining up for release on March 27, 1973

Coming Home

To a war-weary nation, a U.S. POW's return from captivity in Vietnam in 1973 looked like the happiest of reunions

Excavating a 17th-century well.

Rethinking Jamestown

America's first permanent colonists have been considered incompetent. But new evidence suggests that it was a drought—not indolence—that almost did them in

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The Aztecs: Blood and Glory

A new exhibition probes the contradictions of an advanced civilization that practiced human sacrifice

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Vilnius Remembers

In Vilnius, Lithuania, preservationists are creating a living memorial to the nation's 225,000 Holocaust victims

Vikings sailing to Iceland

The Vikings: A Memorable Visit to America

The Icelandic house of what is likely the first European-American baby has scholars rethinking the Norse sagas

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