History

The 1990s reconditioned America's attitude, turning us into sexual creatures

After the “evolving exploration” of the 1960s’ sexual revolution and 1970s and ‘80s’ women’s and gay rights movements, the 1990s began with Ivana Trump…

May 8 •

Chaos claims Manson was no mastermind and Helter Skelter was a ploy to make him a legend

I’ve been meaning to read CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring, since it’s release…

Mar 20 •

Benedict Arnold significantly shaped how Americans view patriotism

Mar 19 •

RIP Donald Shoup aka "the Charles Darwin of parking"

Donald Shoup had a brain tumor in 1995 and something perhaps unusual happened after that.

Feb 12 •

RIP Tom Robbins and others

As noted in the introduction to 2005’s Wild Ducks Flying Backward, Tom Robbins “began writing his first novel in 1968 and he’s made it clear that if…

Feb 10 •

Pop Culture Presidents: #4 James Madison

See the rest of this series on Pop Culture Presidents.

Jan 14 •

RIP Jimmy Carter

I was hoping Jimmy Carter would wait long enough to pass away for it to coincide with my ongoing Pop Culture Presidents series. But that was never very…

Jan 1 •

Ulysses Grant learned to overcome his antisemitism

Historians generally agree that Ulysses S.

Dec 21, 2024 •

Is our Retromania incompatible with an innovative future of rock n' roll?

When people ask me what my favorite musical genre is, I used to never have a very good answer.

Nov 22, 2024 •

The Women is an insta-classic of historical fiction about the Vietnam War and women's rights

I’m rarely attracted to reading books atop the New York Times best-seller list.

Nov 15, 2024 •

Ever since Athens in 430 BC, we’ve been learning how to deal with mass plagues

Now seems like as good of a time as any to hope Covid-19 stays away.

Nov 11, 2024 •

Get ready for another round of outlandish pop-culture politics

A substantial pool of media-studies and political-science experts make claims that the American public shies away from controversial candidates on…

Nov 7, 2024 •

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