For about a century of American history, starting in the 1840s, the only medium of news and entertainment that was truly nationwide was the magazine. Unlike books, which were often too expensive to be accessible, and newspapers, which were generally circulated only...

In 1965, science fiction writer Frank Herbert published his first novel, Dune. Its story of political intrigue was set in a fictional universe full of exotic details, including one which was quite ironic: although Dune was a futuristic story, it took place in a world...

The decade after World War II is often looked back on by nostalgic Americans as an era of peaceful prosperity, a time when people had more to be happy about than ever before in history. There is some truth to this rosy-eyed image, but it’s far from a complete picture....

In 1773 Catherine the Great of Russia placed an order for a 944-piece ceramic dinner and dessert service from an English pottery firm. Ordering new china was something monarchs did all the time, but there was one thing that made this case unusual. Instead of...

It was at the Tehran Conference between the Allied forces in 1943, during one of the most pivotal moments of World War II, that British prime minister Winston Churchill famously declared, “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a...

Of all the difficult tasks that people are sometimes called upon to perform during their careers, speaking unpleasant truths to the privileged and powerful is one of the hardest. It carries with it the social stigma of being associated with an organization’s problems,...

The pursuit of higher education is one of those personal milestones, like owning a house and becoming financially independent, that has traditionally been associated with the good life in America. Over the last century, going to college essentially replaced the...

In the United States today, the idea of “famine” is something we tend to associate with fiction and the distant past, not our own lives. News stories warn us of housing troubles, poverty and homelessness, but not of nationwide food shortages that endanger human lives....

It’s a sad irony of life that many people who spend their careers making others laugh have little to laugh about themselves. In recent decades many comedians have publicly discussed their struggles with depression, but the relationship between professional humor and...