Columnist Danny Heitman compares the relative luxuries of his daughter’s LSU college dorm room to what famed author Henry David Thoreau experienced at Harvard in the 1830s.
Tag Archives: History
Poems of the American Revolution
Throughout history, poets have attempted to interpret the nation’s founding.
Top 10 Civil War Innovations: Slide Show
From pocket watches and standard shoe sizes to rifles and battleships, many new products were invented during the Civil War.
Elie Wiesel Taught the World How to Confront Atrocities
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, passed away on July 2, 2016. Read to learn more about the impact of his life’s work.
Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.
How did prehistoric wolves gradually become domesticated dogs? The authors of the book The Genius of Dogs offer their view.
Author Says a Whole Culture—Not a Single “Homer”—Wrote “Iliad,” “Odyssey”
The tale of the Trojan War reached 21st-century readers largely through the oral tradition. Learn about its source and why it still matters today.
City of Verona
The Italian city that serves as the setting of Romeo & Juliet’s tragic tale has a remarkable heritage dating back to prehistoric times.
Lascaux
Take a virtual tour of the Lascaux cave in France. See how prehistoric cave dwellers made their voices heard in their art.
100 years ago, ‘The Rite of Spring’ incited a riot in a Paris theater
The years just before World War I marked a turning point in the arts, a shift from the romantic to the modern. Learn how a groundbreaking ballet’s modernity shocked and angered the audience at its premier.
Large Abelisaurus dinosaur footprint found in Bolivia
This is the latest dinosaur discovery! Found in Bolivia, a footprint measuring over a meter across is believed to have belonged to one of the largest dinosaurs to roam the Earth 60 to 80 million years ago.
Why President? How The U.S. Named Its Leader
This radio piece covers the disagreement the Senate and House of Representatives had in 1789 about how to refer to the United States’ newly-elected leader.
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction, handing control of the last Republican-held southern states back to the Democrats. Read about what led to the compromise and its effects.
There Is Nothing Accidental About School Segregation
Reporter Jake Blumgart talks to Matt Delmont, author of Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation, about the history of segregation and desegregation of public schools.
Rare Walt Whitman letter, written for a dying soldier, found in National Archives
During the Civil War, poet Walt Whitman made a habit of visiting sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals. Read to find out how a volunteer at the National Archives recently discovered a letter written by the poet on behalf of a dying Union soldier.
Researchers say Anne Frank perished earlier than thought
In 2015, researchers at the Anne Frank House took a close look at the end of Anne’s life at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. This article explains how they discovered that Anne died at least a month earlier than the date that had previously been determined.
Power from the people: Rural Electrification brought more than lights
Less than a century ago, most rural communities in the United States lacked electricity. View artifacts that capture the magnitude of change achieved by the Rural Electrification Administration starting in the 1930s.
Pioneering Social Reformer Jacob Riis Revealed “How The Other Half Lives” in America
Read how journalist Jacob Riis exposed the living conditions of lower-class people in New York City in the late 1800s. View the slide show to examine his photography.
Modern History Sourcebook: Harriet Robinson: Lowell Mill Girls
Read this first-person account by a woman who worked in the Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mill in the 1830s and 1840s. She describes the role women played in society at the time and recounts one of the first strikes in U.S. history.
Music in conflict: 24 iconic images
View the slideshow to examine images that show musicians providing moments of peace, even in the midst of extreme conflict.
The Pilgrims Should Have Been Thankful for a Spirochete
Leptospirosis, a disease spread by rats that arrived in America on explorer’s ships, may have been what killed many of the original inhabitants and opened up the land.