History of Now

The cargo ship Dali ran into the Key Bridge after losing power on March 26.

A Massive Crane Helping With the Baltimore Bridge Cleanup Was Built to Recover a Sunken Soviet Submarine

The Chesapeake 1000 was used to construct a ship for a top-secret CIA mission in the 1970s

The steel frame of the Francis Scott Key Bridge rests atop of a container ship following the bridge's collapse on March 26, 2024.

Seven of the Worst Bridge Disasters in World History

The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is shocking—but not unprecedented

Not everyone was a fan of rumor clinics. Some critics faulted them for helping hearsay reach an even larger audience.

World War II 'Rumor Clinics' Helped America Battle Wild Gossip

Newspapers and magazines across the United States published weekly columns debunking lurid claims that were detrimental to the war effort

Verdun, Félix Edouard Vallotton, 1917

As Empires Clashed During World War I, a Global Media Industry Brought the Conflict's Horrors to the Public

An exhibition at LACMA traces the roots of modern media to the Great War, when propaganda mobilized the masses, and questions whether the brutal truths of the battlefield can ever really be communicated

Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Here, the subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York.

A Brief History of the United States' Accents and Dialects

Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns

Charles Robert Jenkins, pictured here in 2004, hoped to surrender to North Korea, then seek aslyum at the Soviet Embassy and eventually make his way back to the United States via a prisoner swap.

The American Soldier Whose Fear of Fighting in Vietnam Led Him to Defect to North Korea. He Stayed There for 40 Years

During his time in the repressive country, Charles Robert Jenkins married a Japanese abductee, taught English at a school and appeared in propaganda films

This 15th-century medical manuscript shows different colors of urine alongside the ailments they signify.

Modern Medicine Traces Its Scientific Roots to the Middle Ages

Contrary to popular belief, early medieval doctors relied on rational deduction to understand and treat disease

A European depiction of Hasan Sabbah, an 11th-century leader of the Nizari Ismailis, and his followers in a garden paradise

The Medieval Sect That Inspired the Video Game 'Assassin's Creed'

The Order of Assassins is loosely based on the Nizari Ismailis, who formed a Shiite Muslim state that relied on political assassination to achieve its goal

John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy ride the presidential limousine through the streets of Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr. is seated in front of them.

Ex-Secret Service Agent's Account of JFK's Assassination Could Cast Doubt on 'Lone Gunman' Theory

Paul Landis' new book refutes the idea that a single bullet injured both the president and Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr.

Historian Peter Mancall says New English Canaan is “not very long” and “not very well written,” but holds immense value in what it says about the nation’s founding.

How America's First Banned Book Survived and Became an Anti-Authoritarian Icon

The Puritans outlawed Thomas Morton's "New English Canaan" because it was critical of the society they were building in colonial New England

When it comes to historical markers, the hidden truth is this: In any given state, as many as a dozen entities could be putting up signs at the same time.

Why Historical Markers Matter

Few realize that the approval process for these outdoor signs varies widely by state and organization, enabling unsanctioned displays to slip through

Early mug shots of 19th-century criminal suspects in a book by Alphonse Bertillon, chief of criminal identification for the Paris police

A Brief History of the Mug Shot

Police have been using the snapshots in criminal investigations since the advent of commercial photography

Protesters attend a rally in support of affirmative action in college admissions on October 31, 2022.

The History Behind the Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Decision

The phrase, first used in early 20th-century employment laws, is at the center of two new rulings against its use in higher education

An illustration of Anthony Comstock, published in Puck magazine in 1906

The 150-Year-Old Comstock Act Could Transform the Abortion Debate

Once considered a relic of moral panics past, the 1873 law criminalized sending "obscene, lewd or lascivious" materials through the mail

Lewis Wickes Hine's 1909 photograph of a young spinner in a Georgia cotton mill

The Photographer Who Forced the U.S. to Confront Its Child Labor Problem

Lewis Hine's early 20th-century "photo stories" sparked meaningful legislative reform

In the Heege manuscript, an English tutor may have copied the text of a medieval minstrel’s repertoire book.

Medieval Manuscript Reveals 15th-Century Comedy Routine

Written to be performed live, a medieval minstrel's jokes poked fun at the powerful

Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation portrait

A Not-So-Brief History of British Coronations

Ahead of Charles III’s ceremony, here's what you need to know about the origins and evolution of the centuries-old tradition

Ulysses S. Grant’s 1872 brush with the law marked the first and so far only time a United States president has been arrested while in office. Pictured: Grant with his racehorse Cincinnati

When President Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage

The sitting commander in chief insisted the Black police officer who cited him not face punishment for doing his duty

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass is leading a push to repatriate the Rosetta Stone, the Dendera Zodiac and the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt.

Who Gets to Tell the Story of Ancient Egypt?

On the eve of the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, some of the country's artifacts, from the Rosetta Stone to the bust of Nefertiti, remain overseas

Protesters in Beijing hold up white sheets of paper during a November 27 protest against China's strict zero-Covid policy.

A Brief History of Silent Protests

Activists in China are using blank sheets of paper to speak out against the country's draconian zero-Covid policies

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