American History

Doyle's owner, Gerry Burke Jr., is selling the cafe's liquor license. The restaurant business has changed, and for Burke, the pub (shown here in 2015) is no longer viable.

National

Bostonians Lament Loss Of 137-Year-Old Pub And Its Trove Of History

4:22pm October 07, 2019

by Aaron Schachter

Doyle's Café has been in business since 1882, but the owner is closing up shop later this month. Locals are portraying this as yet another nail in the coffin of Boston history and tradition.

At a ceremony Monday at the White House, President Trump defended his racist tweets against Democratic lawmakers. The language used in that tweet has a long history connected with nativist political movements in the U.S.

'Go Back Where You Came From': The Long Rhetorical Roots Of Trump's Racist Tweets

9:26pm July 15, 2019

When the president told several young congresswomen of color to "go back" to where they came from, he borrowed nativist language about as old as the country itself. Here's a little history.

Sadie Roberts-Joseph founded the Baton Rouge African American History Museum in 2001. She was a prominent civil rights activist and community leader.

National

Founder Of African American History Museum Discovered Dead In Car Trunk

5:24pm July 14, 2019

by Shannon Van Sant

Sadie Roberts-Joseph was a prominent civil rights activist and community leader in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She founded the city's African American History Museum in 2001.

A July 4 NPR Tradition: A Reading Of The Declaration Of Independence

5:18am July 04, 2019

On this Fourth of July, NPR presents our annual reading of the Declaration of Independence. Read the original text alongside photos of the NPR staff members who performed the reading.

This America: The Case for the Nation, by Jill Lepore

'This America' Pits Rise In Nationalism Against Championing Of Liberal Democracy

7:01am May 31, 2019

by Scott Detrow

Jill Lepore, author of These Truths, argues that supporters of free and fair liberal government can't just hold their noses and wait for voters to realize that democracy is better than autocracy.

'The Pioneers' Dives Deep Into Lives Of Northwest Territory Settlers

7:40am May 08, 2019

by Michael Schaub

Like David McCullough's other books, this one succeeds because of the author's strength as a storyteller; it reads like a novel and is packed with information drawn from painstaking research.

A copy of the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News sits in a newspaper box on a street corner in Denver, Colorado.

Science

Stop The Presses! Newspapers Affect Us, Often In Ways We Don't Realize

6:00pm April 04, 2019

This week we consider what we misunderstand about newspapers – from their long history of hype, to the hidden price we pay when they close.

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Stony the Road, by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

In 'Stony The Road,' Henry Louis Gates Jr. Looks At The Period After Reconstruction

2:27pm April 03, 2019

by Michael Schaub

In his new book, the literary scholar presents an absorbing, necessary look at the "Redemption" era, in which the hard-fought gains of African-Americans were rolled back by embittered Southern whites.

'These Truths' Looks At America Through The Promises Of Its Beginning

9:54am September 18, 2018

by Michael Schaub

By engaging with our country's past — and present — in an intellectually honest way, Jill Lepore has created a book that truly does encapsulate the American story in all its pain and triumph.

Science

Fake News: An Origin Story

9:00pm June 25, 2018

Fake news in the U.S. is as old as American journalism itself. We explore the trade-offs journalists have long faced between elitism and populism, and integrity and profit.

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