Celebrates the resilience of American cultural institutions in the face of national crises and challenges On an afternoon in January 1865, a roaring fire swept through the Smithsonian Institution. Dazed soldiers and worried citizens could only watch as the flames engulfed the museum's castle. Rare objects and valuable paintings were destroyed. ......
Dispatches of World War II Correspondent Sidney A. Olson
This is a primary source on World War II, which contains the unedited dispatches and personal correspondence of an American reporter embedded with the US Army in Western Europe from 1944 to 1945. His writings capture the human story of the war in Europe in a way that hits on many big themes such as combat, the Holocaust, strategic bombing, the ......
On New Year's Day 1959, Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement overthrew the ruling regime in Cuba, bringing the Cold War to the United States' doorstep and setting the island nation and its superpower neighbor on a collision course. The battle came in April 1961 on the southern coast of Cuba at the Bah?a de los Cochinos--the Bay of Pigs. In a ......
Living in America, we are often confronted by our past. But those in San Francisco literally come face-to-face with it. At the turn of the twentieth century, a 1901 decree ordered the exhumation and relocation of over 150,000 graves in the city - the only major metropolitan city in America to order a complete eviction of its dead. American ......
A comprehensive history of the battle over sex education in the United States Mid-century America had a problem talking about sex. Dr. Mary Calderone first diagnosed this condition and, in 1964, led the uphill battle to de-stigmatize sex education. Supporters hailed her as the "grandmother of modern sex education" while her detractors painted her ......
The Connecticut Mob and the Rise of America's Model City
With Boston to the north and New York City to the south, Connecticut's history of organized crime is often overlooked. This is the untold story of New Haven's illegal past. One of America's most historic and enduring cities, New Haven is beset with a perpetual struggle with its identity, torn between worlds, where different, often contesting, or ......
Examines the role marriage played in the lives of Japanese women during periods of racial exclusion in the United States In 1908 the United States and Japan agreed to limit the migration of Japanese laborers to the US. The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1908 ushered in an era of exclusion for the Japanese, but an exception was made for Japanese women ......
The Autobiography of the Most Glamorous Mitford Sister
Diana Mitford, the most glamorous of the Mitfords, rivetingly narrates her life populated with key characters of 20th century history. Evelyn Waugh and Oswald Mosley fell in love with her, while not only Winston Churchill but also Adolf Hitler adored her. She lived in the grandest houses as well as in Holloway Prison. Later the Duke and Duchess of ......
Professional football's backstory was lost, until now. In the beginning, in 1892, pro football was born. Then it effectively died in infamy in 1906. It was resurrected nearly a decade later and soon became the American Professional Football Association in 1920 (renamed the National Football League in 1922). Few are even familiar with the basics of ......
