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How the World’s Largest Garbage Dump Evolved Into a Green Oasis

Freshkills is possibly the least likely poster child for urban ecological restoration in the world, and it is radical not just for the way it works — by encouraging flora and fauna do as they please — but for its sheer size. It is almost unbelievable that New York City would set aside a parcel of land as big as Lower Manhattan south of 23rd Street — and just let it go to seed.

Kamala Harris, Daughter of Immigrants, Is the Face of America’s Demographic Shift

At 55, Ms. Harris is on the older side of this second generation of Americans whose parents came in those early years. But her family is part of a larger trend that has broad implications for the country’s identity, transforming a mostly white baby-boomer society into a multiethnic and racial patchwork.

Boston Refused to Close Schools During the 1918 Flu. Then Children Began to Die

Boston's school health officials in 1918 denied that school attendance posed a heightened risk for children contracting or transmitting the flu. 

Trump Won’t Win by Doubling-Down on his Racist Appeals but the Right’s Open Bigotry Comes at a Cost

A desperate Donald Trump appears to be pulling back the curtains on direct appeals to white racists. The strategy's success or failure may determine whether these appeals return as a core part of American political rhetoric.

What to Stream: A Blazing Interview with Orson Welles By Richard Brody

Welles is careful to distinguish actors from stars: “The real star is an animal absolutely separate from actors. He may be, or she may be, the greatest actor in the world, but he is not like actors. The vocation of being a star is separate from the vocation of being an actor. It is very close to wanting to be President of the United States.”

Trump’s Attack on the Postal Service Is a Threat to Democracy—and to Rural America

You’d think that the Republican Party, which depends on the undue weight given to rural voters for its continued political life, would be particularly solicitous of the post office. But, at the higher reaches, its ideological preoccupations are stronger: the post office is a government service, and therefore bad; it should be run instead by people who can make money from it.

Kamala Harris and the Growing Political Power of Black Women

Kamala Harris's selection as the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate is a result built on decades of Black women's political organizing and struggle for representation. 

Would DC Statehood Also Give the Trumps Three Electoral Votes?

A proposal for DC statehood would preserve a Capital District around the White House and Capitol, which is granted three Electoral College votes by the Constitution. It's possible that the only residents of the district would be the inhabitants of the White House. 

US Holocaust Survivor Who Spent Decades Fighting For Family’s Looted Art Dies

Family of biochemist and tabletop designer Martha Nierenberg, 96, says they’ll continue legal battle for art collection, stolen by the Nazis and still held by Hungary.

Robert E. Lee’s Name Is Still All Over Arlington, But That Could Be Changing

“Symbols matter. They shape how we view the world and inform our culture,” Julius D. Spain Sr., the President of NAACP Arlington, tells DCist. “Do these [symbols] really represent the Arlington we live in today?”

The Woman Who Paved the Way

Here, compiled from sources including Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro’s memoir, contemporary news clippings and interviews with players who were part of this history, is a look back at Ferraro’s exhilarating, much-scrutinized path to becoming a political standard-bearer.

There’s Nothing New About Federal Meddling In Protest Movements

by Brian Bensimon

The FBI has a long history of acting more as a "national security" agency than a law enforcement body, targeting racial and ethnic minorities and leftist activists. 

History’s Lessons For Joe Biden

The anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the circumstances of Roosevelt's failing health should be reminders of the significance of Joe Biden's choice, even beyond the campaign.

A Public Arts Program for Racial Reconciliation? (video)

A group of cultural organizations calls for a "New Deal" to support community arts and cultural organizations as a key part of advancing racial justice and reconciliation. 

5 Hard-Earned Lessons from Past Pandemics

Do any of the survival strategies developed by past societies seem familiar? 

Museum’s Future Clouded by Chance Discovery: Swastika Hiding in Plain Sight

The discovery of a Nazi symbol in the mosaic floor of a German museum has prompted bitter debate about its creator’s past and the institution’s role.

'And The World Went Crazy': How Hollywood Changed After Hiroshima

Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s wrestled with the idea of a planet without humanity. After "Dr. Strangelove" satirized any effort to treat nuclear war seriously on the big screen, Hollywood viewed the bomb through schlock and horror, until the 1980s revival of sentiment for disarmament and "The Day After."

America’s Military Should Confront Its Past, Not Bury It

by Elliot Ackerman

The German military’s infiltration by far-right extremists should be a warning for how we confront our own troubled history.

Trump and the Suburbs: Is He Out of Tune with America's Increasingly Diverse Voters?

Demographers and political strategists say Trump is promoting a vision of America’s suburbs with aproned housewives, leafy cul-de-sacs and picket fences that no longer exists.

Depicting Japan in British propaganda of the Second World War

The outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Japan exposed the ignorance and indifference of many Britons to Japan. The British Ministry of Information responded with "creative and aggressive propaganda about the Japanese enemy."