American commerce changed in 1877 when the Supreme Court broadly authorized states to regulate businesses, a dramatic shift. Noted The New York Times, the ruling settled “one of the most important questions ever considered by the court.” The great re

At the peak of her long career, diminutive powerhouse Martha Matilda Harper was overseeing some 500 hair salons around the country, in Canada, and across Europe that promoted her Harper hair care method. From an impoverished child indentured in Ontar

Midway into his first term, President Franklin Roosevelt went to war with the American electric utility empires. The November 1934 elections had increased already large Democratic majorities in Congress, positioning Roosevelt to fulfill one of his ca

Swabbies in the U.S. Navy of the mid-1800s coveted coastal survey duty. Crews doing this work mapped such details as depths, shallows, obstructions, and tides along the American coasts. Survey duty meant regular shore leave, fresh food, and slim chan

Ravaged by aerial attack, the auxiliary tender, heavily burdened with a load of ammunition, depth charges, and aviation fuel, was wallowing in open water between the Solomon Islands and New Guinea on Friday, May 22, 1943. The vessel’s 136-man crew ha

In November 1914, American voters in seven states were to consider proposed state constitutional amendments that would enfranchise women. That September, the suffragist movement prepared to employ a new medium by making a cinematic thriller meant to

West by northwest of California, across 5,000 miles of Pacific Ocean, swells break against the volcanic rocks of the Bonins, a small island chain that takes its name from the Japanese for “uninhabited.” Japan is 600 miles north; Guam a thousand miles

H.L. Mencken Scorned His Compatriots Outrageous, snide, and cynical, the caustic newspaper stylist considered his fellow Americans a lower species. In the aftermath of World War I, Mencken wrote a manifesto exposing his countrymen’s most mortifying h

It is not as if no one knows who she was: first lady among First Ladies, doer of enough good deeds during and after her husband’s presidency to last multiple lifetimes, inspiration and model for all successors. ER’s life has generated several biograp

At an awful moment in the history of American restaurants, with nary a one safe from the pandemic’s killer shadow, here is a volume honoring joints and cafes and posh establishments that already have shuffled off the mortal coil in one California com

Alexander Hamilton, the West Indian striver who elbowed his way into the front ranks of the Founding Fathers, has been revealed to have been a lifelong slave owner and slave trader. Jessie Serfilippi, historic interpreter at Hamilton’s former estate—

Historians use many lenses through which to view nations’ growth and changing values over the centuries. University of Nebraska professor Thomas Borstelmann has come up with a viewpoint both off-beat and rewarding: the shifting American definition of

The National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, has moved into a spacious new setting. Previously housed in a historic bank facing Wesley Chapel in Women’s Rights National Historical Park, where activists gathered for the 1848 Women’s Ri

“Hominem te memento,” the Romans said. Remember you’re human. The axiom was uttered during triumphal processions following military victories, repeated to generals in case they had short memories. Many Americans have the same short memories regarding

Besides American History, Paul F. Bradley (“Up in Flames,” p. 34) has written for America’s Civil War, Civil War Times, and national newspapers. He recently completed a play about John Wilkes Booth and is working on a Civil War novel and a nonfiction

Through most of the history of history, those chronicling the past relied on documents, leaving out of the story the mass of the population unable to write or disinclined to create books, journals, and official reports of the sort historians relied o

Besides working on Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, communications consultant Spencer Critchley of Boots Road Group counts the U.S. Department of Labor and others as clients. He contributes to national media outlets. His book Patriots of Two Na

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 87-year-old Supreme Court justice, died on September 18, 2020. Eight days later President Donald J. Trump announced that he would be nominating Appellate Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a 48-year-old conservative Republican, t

When Anton Szandor LaVey decided to start a religion in San Francisco in 1966, he figured he’d better shave his noggin. Medieval executioners, carnival strongmen, and black magicians shaved their heads, he thought, so he shaved his. LaVey’s pale, nak

Visit Historynet.com/American-History and search for online-only stories like these: A law meant to guard women wound up a cudgel against adulterers and men on the FBI blacklist. bit.ly/WhiteSlaveryLawWasLame How an ‘ill-armed peasantry’ crushed Clin

As 1819 was becoming 1820, William King should have been celebrating. After a 35-year struggle to cleave from Massachusetts, the District of Maine, King’s home turf, was about to become a state. One of Maine’s richest shipbuilders—he was known as “th

The latest standout on local libraries’ RFK lists is All This Marvelous Potential, in which Matthew Algeo focuses on two days in 1968 that Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-New York) spent in Eastern Kentucky. This is not simply a blow-by-blow of 48 hours

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has made a five-year, $250 million commitment to fund monuments on the American landscape relating to social justice. According to The New York Times, the foundation previously put $5 million into Montgomery, Alabama’s

On one of the first pages of American Warsaw, Dominica A. Pacyga declares, “Polish Chicago and Polish America cannot be understood without understanding Polish history.” The author takes this idea very seriously. He has filled his incredibly detailed

Freelanc writer Stephanie Bouchard (“Splitting States,” p. 58) lives on the Maine coast. She tweets as @SBouchardME and posts at stephaniebouchard.net. This is her first piece for the magazine. Paul Dickson (“Your Number Came Up,” p. 40) writes about

No major conflict in American history can match the Civil War for generating controversy. The common view holds that the Confederacy owed its brief existence to men bent on maintaining White supremacy and preserving slavery. Defenders of the Old Sout