Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

Mexicans entering the United States

Cross Purposes

Mexican immigrants are defying expectations in this country-and changing the landscape back home

The artifacts of the Pig War speak of peace: even these British Minié balls were discarded without having been fired.

Boar War

A marauding hog bites the dust in a border dispute between the United States and Britain that fails to turn ugly

The members of the Supreme Court including Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (center, front row) ruled against President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs.

History of Now

When Franklin Roosevelt Clashed With the Supreme Court—and Lost

Buoyed by his reelection but dismayed by rulings of the justices who stopped his New Deal programs, a president overreaches

"It's a plastered skull!" shouted anthropologist Basak Boz (with the artifact). To researchers, who have documented more than 400 human burials at Catalhoyuk, the find is evidence of a prehistoric artistic and spiritual awakening.

The Seeds of Civilization

Why did humans first turn from nomadic wandering to villages and togetherness? The answer may lie in a 9,500-year-old settlement in central Turkey

None

Rocky Mountain High

After a canoe capsizes, the first sight of the mountainous “snowey barrier” lifts the corps’ spirits

Roosevelt in 1893, at the age of 11

Digging Deep

For some stories, the roots go way back, even to childhood

George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner

Fatal Triangle

How a dark tale of love, madness and murder in 18th-century London became a story for the ages

None

Rising from the Ashes

The eruption of Mount St. Helens 25 years ago this month was no surprise. But the speedy return of wildlife to the area is astonishing

None

Hugs and Kisses from the IRS

A kinder, gentler tax form is on the way

None

William Clark and the Shaping of the West

Reconstruction of Fort Mandan, Lewis & Clark Expedition

A Formidable Anamal

After a winter of waiting, the corps leaves Fort Mandan and heads warily into bear country

None

Emerging From Caves

Science suffers a setback—and leads to a breakthrough

None

Just What the Doctor Ordered

During Prohibition, an odd alliance of special interests argued beer was vital medicine

None

Hearing Aid

A trove of recorded sounds preserves everything from tree frog calls to murmurs of the heart

None

Swords and Sandals

In Libya, again open to U.S. travelers after more than two decades, archaeologists have uncovered spectacular mosaics of the glories of Rome

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

None

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

None

February Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

Page 279 of 303