History

Jonas Salk's Polio Vaccine Trials Would Be Hard To Repeat Today

6:30pm October 28, 2014

Robert Siegel talks with Dr. David Oshinsky about the historic polio vaccination trials. Tuesday is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jonas Salk, who invented the vaccine.

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Officer Killed In Civil War To Receive Medal Of Honor

1:17pm October 28, 2014

by Sam Sanders

On Nov. 6, President Obama will award a long-delayed Medal of Honor to Army 1st Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing, who fought in the Civil War. Advocates have lobbied for years on his behalf.

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With 13 angles, a stone has been found by researchers in Peru that could undermine the famous 12-Angle Stone that has drawn thousands of tourists.

World News

New Incan Find One-Ups Peru's Famous 12 Angle Stone

1:26pm October 25, 2014

by Bill Chappell

The find was announced by Peru's Ministry of Culture, which says the 13-angled stone was part of a water system that irrigated a strategically important area southeast of Lima.

A depiction of "Gin Lane," filled with sins caused by drunken revelries.

Tracing A Gin-Soaked Trail In London

11:57am October 25, 2014

by Ari Shapiro

Around the world, new gin distilleries are popping up like mushrooms after a rain. NPR traces the boom to its historic roots in London, which once had 250 distilleries within the city limits alone.

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The pillars at Gobekli Tepe resemble those at Stonehenge — but predate them by several thousand years.

In Southeast Turkey, A Long History Of Bloodshed And Worship

7:46pm October 24, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

A vast plain near Syria is no stranger to military carnage. But a place known as "Potbelly Hill" holds ruins built in ancient times, possibly for ritual purposes, long before organized religion.

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Science

Sunken U-Boats Off North Carolina Coast A Significant Find For Historians

6:28pm October 22, 2014

The North Carolina coast may be the last place you'd think to find a sunken German submarine from World War II. But that's what Joe Hoyt — a nautical archeologist — found on a recent expedition to the ocean floor. Robert Siegel talks to him about the underwater battle site there.

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Waverly Adcock, a sergeant and founder of the West Augusta Guard, prepares his company for inspection and battle at a Civil War re-enactment in Virginia. Sara Smith, whose great-great-grandfather was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, holds the Confeder

National

Six Words: 'Must We Forget Our Confederate Ancestors?'

9:30am October 22, 2014

by NPR Staff

The Confederate flag is a sign of bigotry to some. For others, says reporter Jesse Dukes, it symbolizes family heritage and defiance — but also what he calls a "willful innocence" about U.S. history.

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World News

Foreign Fighters A Fixture Of Conflict Throughout Modern History

7:01am October 22, 2014

Dutch bikers joined forces with Kurdish fighters in Iraq. Europeans have joined the ISIS ranks. But foreign fighters — volunteers that fight for a cause, and not for money — aren't a new idea. Robert Siegel talks with David Malet of the University of Melbourne, about foreign fighters over the last few centuries.

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Taqueria La Delicia is a lonchera, or food truck, that parks near a Lowe's Home Improvement store in New Orleans. The owner is Honduran, and so are many of the day laborers who eat there.

National

In The Big Easy, Food Vendors Create A Little Honduras

5:31pm October 20, 2014

by Laine Kaplan-Levenson

Thanks to a quirk of history, New Orleans has long had a Honduran population, but it exploded post-Katrina. Nearly a decade later, Hondurans have created a vibrant, if underground, culinary community.

Edet Belzberg's other films include the documentaries Children Underground and The Recruiter.

Arts

The Man Who Coined 'Genocide' Spent His Life Trying To Stop It

7:40pm October 18, 2014

by NPR Staff

Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the word in 1943, as part of his lifelong campaign to make the world acknowledge and prosecute the crime. A new documentary, Watchers of the Sky, tells his story.

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