How did the ritual of celebrating the arrival of a New Year that once extended for days come to be compressed into just a few moments?
December, 2015
Joyous Kwanzaa: A Holiday Born of Afrocentrism and Black Nationalism
Kwanzaa provides time for contemplation and appreciation of an ancestry that the dominant culture generally downplays or ignores.
The Legacy of George S. Patton
Few Americans, including Richard Nixon, would forget the man or the biopic version of his life.
The Not-So-Lost Cause
The Thirteenth Amendment, proclaimed on Dec 18, 1865, did not stop ex-Confederates from taking by foul means what they had failed to win on the battlefield.
It Could Happen Here
Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here reminds us that the U.S. can never be insulated from politicians who thrive on populist rage in pursuit of power.
The Battle of Fredericksburg and Its Many Interpretations
Fredericksburg reminds us of the Civil War’s enormous costs and that the war’s outcome was by no means inevitable.
Red Cloud and the Lakota
On December 10, 1909, Red Cloud died poor, blind, and discouraged, personifying the Lakota experience of the late nineteenth century.
I Am Woman: Lingering Questions About Women’s Equality
Helen Reddy’s song peaked while the feminist movement was on the cusp of a great victory that never came to fruition.
Why Prohibition Failed
The rosy predictions of Prohibition’s supporters hobbled the law from the start.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Hell-Roaring Mike
From Macon, Georgia to the waters off Alaska. Mike Healy was the Coast Guard’s first black captain.