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History / U.S. History

"Highways by Automation" by Arthur Radebuagh

Giant Automatic Highway Builders of the Future

Radebaugh’s vision of a road-creating machine may not have been a figment of just his imagination- a Disney-produced television program had a similar idea

More than four months before his famous "midnight ride," Paul Revere made a midday gallop to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and some consider that the true starting point of the war for independence.

The Midday Ride of Paul Revere

Longfellow made the patriot’s ride to Lexington legendary, but the story of Revere’s earlier trip to Portsmouth deserves to be retold as well

Arizona's Grand Canyon as painted by Thomas Moran in 1908

Senator Barry Goldwater Imagines Arizona in the Year 2012

The Republican senator and 1964 presidential candidate predicted the growth of the Sun Belt and envisioned an open border with Mexico

Collier's magazine cover from May 28, 1954

Weather Control as a Cold War Weapon

In the 1950s, some U.S. scientists warned that, without immediate action, the Soviet Union would control the earth’s thermometers

A Depression-era hobo–one of thousands who traveled the roads and rails of the United States during the 1930s.

Making the Rounds With Santa Claus Smith

For six years, an elderly tramp toured the U.S., paying those who helped him with checks for sums of up to $900,000

Clarence Darrow, addressing the jury as a defendant, was never convicted of bribery, but his two trials shattered his reputation.

Clarence Darrow: Jury Tamperer?

Newly unearthed documents shed light on claims that the famous criminal attorney bribed a juror

Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s men drew Union fire in an attempt to destroy a Potomac River dam.

Frozen in Place: December 1861

President Lincoln addresses the State of the Union and grows impatient with General McClellan

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Most Interesting

Winfrey steps aside after a decade, Caruso steps in

There are several accounts of Confederate and Union troops camped near one another harmonizing "Home, Sweet Home!" across the battle lines.

The Sentimental Ballad of the Civil War

Forget “Dixie,” it was one New Yorker’s “Home Sweet Home” that was the song most beloved by Union and Confederate soldiers

Thanksgiving meal in a pill

A Thanksgiving Meal (in-a-pill)

The future of food was envisioned by many prognosticators as entirely meatless and often synthetic

The Monuments That Were Never Built

In a new exhibit at the National Building Museum, imagine Washington D.C. as it could have been

The "rectal acorn"

The Civil War

Seven Obscure Facts You Didn’t Know About the Civil War

Amid the vast literature of the Civil War, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the stranger facts, coincidences and quirks of character

Zipping from San Francisco to Oakland in 5 Minutes

An inventor’s plans for traveling inside a giant bullet would have made a trip across the Bay a fast one

"...roads jammed by frantic survivors, blocking entry of rescue teams."

Would You Pass the Panic-Proof Test?

If an atomic bomb drops on your house, a civil defense official advises: “Get over it.”

Five must-read books on Thomas Jefferson from author Marc Leepson.

The Essentials: Five Books on Thomas Jefferson

A Jefferson expert provides a list of indispensable reads about the founding father

Aftermath of the Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916

Sabotage in New York Harbor

Explosion on Black Tom Island packed the force of an earthquake. It took investigators years to determine that operatives working for Germany were to blame

George McClellan, with Abraham Lincoln at Antietam in 1862, took command of the Union armies but let the president wait.

November 1861: Flare Ups in the Chain of Command

As Union generals came and left, personalities clashed and Southern farmers set fire to their fields

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Comings and Goings

To every thing there is a season

Ninety percent of Mount Rushmore was carved using dynamite.

The Making of Mount Rushmore

The 70th anniversary of the completion of the South Dakota monument prompts a look back at what it took to create it

Henry Johnson and the Harlem Hellfighters in a parade up Fifth Avenue upon their return to New York in February, 1919.

Remembering Henry Johnson, the Soldier Called “Black Death”

Henry Johnson suffered 21 wounds and rescued a soldier while repelling an enemy raid in the Argonne Forest in 1918 but died 11 years later a forgotten man

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