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There are few soccer players better suited to play goalie than the perfectly named Hope Solo. A self-described loner, she is the best player on the U.S. women's soccer team, and its most outspoken.

Hope Solo Drops Her Guard

As her controversial new memoir will show, the leader of the U.S. women’s soccer team has always defended her turf

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The Conversation

Readers Respond to the June Issue

Muhammad Ali used this headgear before winning Olympic gold in 1960.

The Collections of the African American History and Culture Museum Await Their New Home

Objects from Muhammad Ali’s headgear to Nat Turner’s Bible sit in a holding facility in Maryland, ready to be put on display

Barbara Kruger photographed in her New York studio.

Barbara Kruger’s Artwork Speaks Truth to Power

The mass media artist has been refashioning our idioms into sharp-edged cultural critiques for three decades—and now brings her work to the Hirshhorn

Tenor Darren Abraham plays Albert White, the previously unsung steelworker and bicycling champ.

An Opera for an English Olympic Hero

Lal White was forgotten by many, even residents of his small English factory town, but the whimsical Cycle Song hopes to change that

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln: A Novel by Stephen L. Carter.

A Lincoln Novel, Native Poetry, Marie Curie and More New Recent Books

In a new alternative history, The Great Emancipator lives to fight a second civil war

Woody Guthrie, shown here in the 1940s, created great lines in songs and drawings.

Happy 100th Birthday, Woody Guthrie!

New songs by the American folk legend keep turning up, a century after his birth

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Meet Ella Jenkins, the “First Lady of Children’s Music”

The Grammy winner celebrates her 88th birthday with a new album that reflects her lifelong love of kids’ music

Secretary Albright’s dress for succession.

Power Suit

How do you ensure documents left in a time capsule will be legible after 100 years?

How Do You Keep Items Safe in a Time Capsule and More Questions From Our Readers

Also learn more about the jaw harp, why it takes three days to get to the Moon and more

Tea for One (2002)

Spotlight

Jim Thorpe's epic performance in the 15 events that made up the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Games remains the most solid reflection we have of him.

Why Are Jim Thorpe’s Olympic Records Still Not Recognized?

In 1912, Jim Thorpe became the greatest American Olympian of all time, but not if you ask the IOC

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Torch Song

Ode to an ancient summer rite, excesses and all

The vice-presidential learning center features a sweatshirt worn by the young Dan Quayle.

The Vice Presidents That History Forgot

The U.S. vice presidency has been filled by a rogues gallery of mediocrities, criminals and even corpses

The Games may not exist at all were it not for the perseverance of the Brits.

The Paris Olympics

The Little-Known History of How the Modern Olympics Got Their Start

Acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford connects the modern Games to their unlikely origin—in rural England

J. Allyn Rosser is an American poet and currently teaches at Ohio University.

Summer Olympics Look, a Poem

Poet J. Allyn Rosser’s new piece on watching the Olympic Games

Kayakers on the Thames in London go with the flow near Parliament and Big Ben.

The Long and Winding History of the Thames

Float down England’s longest river, from its origin in the Cotswolds to its ramble through London, a journey through centuries of “liquid history”

At Dorney Lake, scullers try out for Britain’s Olympic women’s rowing team.

300 Years of Rowing on the Thames

There must be something in the water at Eton, where rowing rules as the sport of choice

George Clinton and crew brought the crowd to their feet on the opening night of the Festival.

June 30: Today’s Events at the Folklife Festival

Today at the Folklife Festival: Mississippi Hills cultural tourism, traditional Indiana cooking, and a tattoo workshop with Coco Bayron.

The Mother Ship Model, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” is on display in the Rockets and Missiles exhibition station at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Insider Tips for the Tourists in Town

Think you know all of the cool sights on the Mall? We bet you’ll find these insider tips from the Institution helpful this tourist season

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