Editors' Picks
For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II
In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga
Lost and Found Again: Photos of African-Americans on the Plains
What would otherwise be a local-interest story became a snapshot of history integral to the American experience
When Did Humans Come to the Americas?
Recent scientific findings date their arrival earlier than ever thought, sparking hot debate among archaeologists
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Douglas Groat thought he understood the risks of his job—until he took on his own employer
October 2012
| By David Wise
One of the greatest religious movements of the 19th century began in the bedroom of two young girls living in a farmhouse in Hydesville, New York. On a late March day in 1848, Margaretta “Maggie” Fox, 14, and Kate, her 11-year-old sister, waylaid a neighbor, eager to share an odd and frightening phenomenon. Every [...]
October 29, 2012
| By Karen Abbott
After Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, the infamous Plumbers broke into his psychiatrist’s office, looking for a way to discredit him
October 2012
| By Owen Edwards
Two hundred years after the Salem witch trials, farmers became convinced that their relatives were returning from the grave to feed on the living
October 2012
| By Abigail Tucker
A new portrait of the founding father challenges the long-held perception of Thomas Jefferson as a benevolent slaveholder
October 2012
| By Henry Wiencek
Mark Twain prowled the rough-and-tumble streets of 1860s San Francisco with a hard-drinking, larger-than-life fireman
October 2012
| By Robert Graysmith
Major Taylor had to brave more than the competition to become one of the most acclaimed cyclists of the world
September 12, 2012
| By Gilbert King
What happens when public safety clashes with modern architecture?
September 10, 2012
| By Matt Novak
Throughout the 1876 campaign, Tilden’s opposition had called him everything from a briber to a thief to a drunken syphilitic
September 07, 2012
| By Gilbert King
What is it about New York that compels us to see it obliterated in fiction over and over again?
September 06, 2012
| By Matt Novak
Forget flying cars and jetbacks, whatever happened to my cereal-serving robot?
August 31, 2012
| By Matt Novak
When a 18th century German prince visited Mt. Vesuvius in Naples, he insisted on building a replica of it on his estate back home. 200 years later, a chemistry professor brings it back to life
August 30, 2012
| By Andrew Curry
The Grand Dragon of the Klan and prominent Indiana politician had a vicious streak that had horrifying consequences
August 30, 2012
| By Karen Abbott
Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia that offered justice and plenty to any explorer capable of finding it
August 28, 2012
| By Mike Dash
As the two parties bring together their faithful supporters, we look at those conventions in the past that truly made a difference in the country’s political history
August 27, 2012
| By Kenneth C. Davis
For the first time, Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of Fame is allowing the public to vote on which robots will be inducted
August 22, 2012
| By Matt Novak
"Count" Victor Lustig once sold the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting scrap-metal dealer. Then he started thinking really big
August 22, 2012
| By Gilbert King
See how British cryptologists cracked the coded message that propelled the United States into World War I
August 21, 2012
| By Megan Gambino
Long before the age of Kickstarter, Hugo Gernsback used his magazine to garner interest for a monument devoted to the inventor of the telephone
August 20, 2012
| By Matt Novak
In a new book, political junkie Robert W. Merry shares his three-part test
August 13, 2012
| By Megan Gambino
Meet the historians who pioneered scholarship of retro-futurism
August 15, 2012
| By Matt Novak
A half-century ago, a U.S. military test lit up the skies and upped the ante with the Soviets.
August 15, 2012
| By Gilbert King
Encoded mysteries have existed through history—especially imaginary ones
September 2012
| By Mark Strauss
When a powerful 1963 piece laid out the stark poverty in America, the White House took action
September 2012
| By Jill Lepore
September 2012 | By Michael Caruso
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National Treasures
The stories behind famous objects from the Smithsonian's collection
The stories behind famous objects from the Smithsonian's collection
The Tucker Was the 1940s Car of the Future
The World’s Most Famous Filing Cabinet
The Tacky History of the Pink Flamingo
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Document Deep Dives
A close look at documents that changed history
A close look at documents that changed history
Document Deep Dive: The Menu From President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Ball
Document Deep Dive: Emancipation Proclamation
