by Jack Kelly As part of the ongoing celebration of the birth of the United States 250 years ago and the sacrifices that soldiers made to create the United States, author Jack Kelly recounts the Battle of Bunker Hill and Dr. Joseph Warren’s role in it. Portrait of...
by Tom Clavin To celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI on June 28, 1919, author Tom Clavin shares with The History Reader the story of the Red Baron and other early flyboys whose dangerous missions helped bring WWI to an end. Photograph of...
Looking for your next history read? Check out some of our favorite new history books publishing in July 2025. People Who Eat Darkness Now with a new afterword. Lucie Blackman—tall, blond, twenty-one years old—stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of...
by Jack Kelly In honor of Anne Royall’s birthday (June 11, 1769), author Jack Kelly shares with The History Reader her story as one of the pioneering female journalists in American history who was indicted for being a “common scold.” In the summer of 1829, one of the...
In June of 1752, with some sources specifically saying the tenth of June, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous experiment of drawing electricity from the sky utilizing a kite. Tim Queeney, author of Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of...
In my December 2024 JAH article, I wrote about the history of âbad roadsâ in the time and space of American slavery. The article examined the making, repair, uses, meanings, and effects of ordinary public ways that ran throughout the South. These public roads were...
As we approach the eightieth anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Process invites proposals and submissions for an upcoming series on nuclear history. We are open to a wide variety of topics. This could include pieces that consider resource...
by Alex Vernon Alex Vernon of Peace is a Shy Thing discusses reality versus cinema during the Vietnam War, focusing on a unique experience of Tim O’Brien during that time. One of the joys in conducting research for Peace is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien...
Looking for your next history read? Check out our favorite new history books publishing in June 2025. Charles Sumner A landmark biography of Charles Sumner, the unsung hero of the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Amazon | B&N | Bookshop Larry McMurtry Now in...
The Roman Empire’s brilliance is far from ancient history. The Roman Empire Got It Right by Steven Marr is your passport to the past that built the future—from engineering marvels like aqueducts, concrete, and sewer systems to groundbreaking advances in health care,...
Imagine writing on a topic you know well but relying on a method that has yet to bear a widely accepted name to write it. I found myself in precisely this position in the late 1990s when I first started delving into what was sometimes called âhistories of the...
by Nev March The Silversmith’s Puzzle author Nev March explains the storied history of Chor Bazaar, also known as the Thieves Market in South Mumbai, India. An antique shop at Chor Bazaar, Mumbai. (Public domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia) A table in the upstairs corridor...
by John Lisle Project Mind Control‘s John Lisle explains how something as classified as MKULTRA naturally attracts conspiracy theorists, and how the theories all began. Sidney Gottlieb (Public domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia.) Few topics have caused more distrust in...
Whack Job by Rachel McCarthy James is a brilliant and bloody examination of the axe’s foundational role in human history, from prehistoric violence, to war and executions, to newspaper headlines and popular culture. Read on for an introductory excerpt of this...
by Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson After decades of silence, the last surviving World War II spy operating in the deadly world of Nazi France, reveals the real, untold story of her time as a secret agent. Read on for a featured excerpt from The Last Secret Agent. A...
Looking for your next history read? Check out our favorite new history books publishing in May 2025. Melting Point Longlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, this dazzling, innovative family memoir tells the story of a long-lost plan to create a...
by Buddy Levy In Part I published previously on The History Reader, author Buddy Levy introduces readers to Lincoln Ellsworth and shares how he and famed explorer Roald Amundsen first met. Now, Buddy Levy concludes his focus on Ellsworth, sharing Ellsworth’s...
by Rachel McCarthy James Whack Job author Rachel McCarthy James takes a look at how guns, chainsaws, and swords outshined the humble axe as weapons throughout history. The axe is a humble object; its power lies in its commonality, its everydayness. Throughout its long...