Topographic map

The Map That Created The Modern Middle East

The Sykes-Picot remade the Middle East for British and French control. A century later, their legacy is a disaster. 
FDR delivers the nominating speech for Alfred E. Smith at the Democratic Convention at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY. June 26, 1924. This speech is often considered FDR's first major gesture of re-entry into national politics after recovering from the onset of polio.

A Really Contested Convention: The 1924 Democratic “Klanbake”

The convention was also notable because hundreds of Knights of the Ku Klux Klan attended as delegates.
Depressed man

Anxiety and Treatment

Anxiety is on the rise in the general populace, says Will Hutton in this weekend’s Guardian.
Polish Codebreakers

Cracking Enigma: The Polish Connection

Bletchley Park's code-breakers are famous for cracking Enigma, but they had a major assist from three Polish mathematicians, who had done it in 1932.
Mary Cassatt's The Young Mother

Maternity, #Meternity, and the Military

Maternity leave as we know it today may have its origins in turn-of-the-century French militarism.
Loving mother and daughter.

The Mother of Mother’s Day

Mother's Day began as one woman's quest to have a public observance of the anniversary of her own mother's passing.
Poling Hotel and Saloon Laurelville OH Approx 1903

What Red Light Ladies Reveal About the American West

Prostitution and sex work are useful metric for historians seeking insight into the American West.
1901 poster for Cinco de Mayo: "May 5, 1862 and the siege of Puebla"

On Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Thinking of celebrating Cinco de Mayo at your school this year? Learn from history about some of the potentially insensitive pitfalls.
Carnegie Hall

A Critical Look at Gilded Age Philanthropy

The 125th anniversary of the opening of Carnegie Hall on May 5th provides an opportunity to examine Andrew Carnegie's legacy and philanthropy.
A collage of old black and white mugshots

The Right to Legal Counsel

Adequate legal counsel is not provided to many of the poor accused of crimes.