1930s

The Real Star of Showtime’s New Series? L.A.’S Neglected Mexican and Chicano History

The man behind the original “Penny Dreadful,” which ran for three seasons and drew on famed figures from Gothic literature, has now taken an oft-forgotten piece of history, added the supernatural and the culturally specific iconography of Santa Muerte, and produced Showtime’s spinoff “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels."

A Sharp Shock, But Not a Depression: A Historian's View

“I’m cautiously optimistic that the economic effects will be severe but not nearly as long-lasting as the Great Depression,” says David Kennedy, a professor of history at Stanford University. “Both the depth and duration are not likely to look like the Great Depression.”

America Has a History of Pandemic Denial

by Joseph Loconte

Donald Trump wasn't the first president to misunderestimate a national threat. Franklin Roosevelt played his part in the collective denial and dishonesty of the age—until the "ideology of fascism" contagion came knocking.

‘The Plot Against America’ is Truer than even Philip Roth Knew

by PJ Grisar

Not that long ago, America welcomed its first Nazis.

"Faster" Author Neal Bascomb on the Jewish Auto Racer who Defied Hitler

by Neal Bascomb

Rene Dreyfus, a former top driver on the international racecar circuit, had been banned from the best European teams—and fastest cars—by the mid-1930s because of his Jewish heritage.

Experience 1930s Europe Through the Words of Two African American Women

by Ethelene Whitmire

In the pages of the “Chicago Defender,” the cousins detailed their adventures traversing the continent while also observing signs of the changing tides.

The Last Time Democracy Almost Died

by Jill Lepore

Learning from the upheaval of the nineteen-thirties.

The Necessary Radicalism of Bernie Sanders

by Jamelle Bouie

Conflict was the engine of labor reform in the 1930s. And mass strikes and picketing, in particular, pushed the federal government to act.

A Lost Piece of Trans History

The recent republication of The Third Sex by the Bibliothek rosa Winkel revives lost voices from Germany’s queer past and recovers a remarkable piece of trans history.

Estonia was comparatively richer in 1930s, says historian

Jaak Valge, a well-known historian and Tallinn University researcher, says that Estonians today are worse off than in the 1930s in comparison to the rest of the continent.“If the current Estonia is more than two times poorer than Finland, then before [World War II] Finland was a quarter wealthier. While Portugal is presently richer than Estonia, Estonians were far more wealthy in the 1930s than the Portuguese, “ said Valge, speaking on ETV on Sunday....