Making Steel All Shiny and New
When it seemed that steel had lost its gleam with American consumers, the industry turned to marketing to make it shine again.
Ski Resorts and Climate Change
The effects of climate change are already being felt by some ski resorts, but filling in the slopes with artificial snow may not be a good solution.
Our Most Popular Stories of 2021
This year, readers were into peanut butter and jelly, semi-conductors, bayonets, Victorian knitting manuals, plus the hard-working dogs of Medieval Europe.
What Happens to Brands When Celebrity Endorsers Are ‘Canceled?’
Take the case of Tiger Woods’ whose reputation took a nosedive after his many affairs came to light in November 2009.
The Flint Sit-Down Strike, From the Inside
Americans in "The Great Resignation" and "Strikevember" are the heirs of the 1936-1937 sit-down strike by auto workers in Flint, Michigan.
How the Marshall Plan Sold Europe to Americans
Department-store bazaars let consumers see how glamorous and sophisticated imported goods could be. Ooh, la la!
How Retail Sales Became “Unskilled” Work
There's a big difference between how salespeople in traditional department stores and big-box retailers interact with their customers.
How Show Business Went Union
Since the nineteenth century, the IATSE union has organized behind-the-scenes workers, first in theater, then in the movies.
Joe Magarac, a Boss’s Idea of a Folk Hero?
The Paul Bunyan of the steel industry never went on strike. He was too tied up working the twenty-four-hour shifts that unions were fighting.
Why You’ll Never Get Lead Poisoning from a Pencil
Some of the greatest moments in international pencil history involve discoveries of a different mineral.