THE HYSTERICAL HISTORIAN

Historians are a dour lot, but Sarah Vowell looks at America with dark amusement. And that voice!

WITSThe AtticJuly 12, 2024Sarah Vowell, American history, Assassination vacation, NPR, This American Life, Ira Glass, American humor Comments

THE OTHER OPPENHEIMER AND HIS PALACE OF WONDER

One Oppenheimer brother fell but the other rose to spark a world of wonder.

TEACHERS, teachersThe AtticJuly 5, 2024Frank Oppenheimer, The Exploratorium, Science museums, Trinity test, J. Robert Oppenheimer Comments

WHEN THE TALL SHIPS SAILED

The Bicentennial was a bust — until the Tall Ships saved the day.

WONDERS, WondersThe AtticJune 26, 2024Tall Ships, Bicentennial, 1976, America's BIcentennial Comment

THE JEWEL OF THE SUMMER -- FREEDOM SCHOOLS

In a savage and sizzling summer, Mississippi’s Freedom Schools were beacons of hope.

TEACHERS, teachers & healers, TEACHERS & HEALERS, teachersThe AtticJune 21, 2024Freedom Schools, Freedom Summer, 1964, Mississippi, Civil Rights Movement Comments

MISSISSIPPI'S MOSES

As Freedom Summer’s 60th approaches, its architect stirs memories and awe.

HEROESThe AtticJune 12, 2024Bob Moses, Civil Rights Movement, Freedom Summer, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Mississippi, Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney Comments

A BICYCLE BUILT FOR HER

During the 1890s, when bicycles were all the rage, women rode free. Not even a Victorian backlash could stop them.

WONDERSThe AtticJune 5, 2024bicycles, bicycle boom, 1890s bicycle boom, Amelia bloomer, women's history Comments

THE REAL RHIANNON

Part folkie, part music scholar, Rhiannon Giddens is a walking American songbook.

FOLKIESThe AtticMay 30, 2024Rhiannon Giddens, Carolina Chocolate Drops, American folk music, Folk music, banjo, banjo history Comments

THE MONUMENT TO HOPE

In the Massachusetts 54th, democracy and racial equality found new champions and a startling memorial.

HEROESThe AtticMay 23, 2024Shaw memorial, 54th Massachusetts, Memorial Day, Decoration Day, Shaw 54th memorial Comments

THE SIGNS, THE RAVE -- BURMA SHAVE!

Through Depression and war, America got a lift from a little shaving company and its roadside verse.

WITSThe AtticMay 17, 2024Burma-Shave, Advertising, Americana Comments

THE CLUB THAT STARTED IT ALL

Shortly before the vote and long before the Sixties, Heterodoxy put feminism up front.

REBELSBruce WatsonMay 10, 2024Heterodoxy, Women's history, Feminism, Greenwich Village, Bohemians, American radicals, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood Comments

WHEN TV TALKED SENSE

When TV was coming of age, Dick Cavett asked it to think.

WITSThe AtticMay 2, 2024Dick Cavett, The Dick Cavett Show, Late night TV, 1970s Comments

MIND IN A MAN'S WORLD -- MARGARET FULLER

In her brief, brilliant life, Margaret Fuller was the heart and mind of women’s equality

HEROESThe AtticApril 24, 2024Margaret Fuller, Transcendentalism, The Dial, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau, Henry David Thoreau, Emerson Comment

THE CAMERA AS WEAPON

From LIFE to Vogue to “Shaft,” Gordon Parks brought black life into focus.

ART-ISHThe AtticApril 18, 2024Gordon Parks, Shaft, Blaxploitation, African-American history, LIFE magazine Comments

HEARTS IN GRANITE

People on the Plains led quiet, anonymous lives. Until Spoon River.

BOOK-ISHThe AtticApril 11, 2024Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters, American poetry, Lewistown, Lewistown Illinois, Great Plains, American LiteratureComment

MY RENDEZVOUS WITH SUN AND MOON

No malaise, no 1000-mile drive, no downer decade could dampen the miracle of sun and moon.

WONDERSThe AtticApril 3, 2024Solar eclipse, Total solar eclipse, American travel, 1979 Comments

OL' DIZ -- AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL

His English was fast and loose but his fastball was faster. There was only one Dizzy Dean.

HEROESThe AtticMarch 27, 2024Dizzy Dean, St. Louis Cardinals, Baseball, Gashouse Gang, The Depression Comments