In Richmond, Virginia, this week, a monumental statue of Jefferson Davis was toppled from its perch by a popular uprising. In observance of that, I am proud to publish a section of Here Lies America that has never been seen before: my visit to the White House of the Confederacy. This segment was trimmed for space… Read more »
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Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue shall ride no more: The time has come
Richmond’s colossal statue of Robert E. Lee was erected 25 years after the Civil War, but it was an early volley of a new war—this one, in Lost Cause propaganda, was the war the South would win. After a long period of little monument-building following the 1865 surrender, Southern sympathizers turned the Lost Cause into… Read more »
List of National Park units on Twitter (Updated)
Many of the National Park Service streams are often tended by people—experts in their fields—who get excited about nature and history and have a passion for protecting the places held in the public trust. For example, the African Burial Ground (a delightfully active one for such a small site) might share a resource for researching your slave ancestors in Virginia or link to a database that details the machinations of the slave trade. Other feeds may be manned by rangers who can answer history questions for you.
Rudolph Valentino Died 90 Years Ago Today (So the Woman in Black Returned)
As they have done for 89 years since, Rudolph Valentino’s fans gathered at 12:10 pm in the mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to pay tribute—songs, praise, sermons about the eternal life of fame.
What Will Become of the Home Where Walt Disney Lived When He Was a Loser?
Dreams do come true, and sometimes wilder than anyone could have imagined them, but sometimes they have to lay dormant—or get left behind, or rot, or even be given to someone else—for a long time before they can.
The Crowd in the Streets of Dallas
Portions of this post were adapted from my book Here Lies America, which is about how the United States has memorialized its past tragedies as tourist attractions. (You can buy Here Lies America here.) In the winter of 1910, Dallas was suffering a crime wave of purse snatchings and assaults. The police didn’t know… Read more »
Why are there Confederate Flags in Times Square station?
There are Confederate flags throughout New York City’s Times Square subway station. Why?
The Brilliant Women Who Popularized the Confederate Flag and Rewrote American History (Literally)
The United Daughters of the Confederacy — allegedly powerless, allegedly on the losing side of a bitter war, allegedly merely female — directed the most powerful public relations movement that America has known.
A soldier who loved his sweetie to the bone
Here’s a delightful anecdote: A Civil War soldier had his leg amputated, and while he recovered in the hospital, he carved this pin for his sweetheart out of his own leg bone. Who’s this lucky gal Lizzie, you ask? Well, we will never know, because he died of infection before he could tell the nurses…. Read more »
Hollywood studios should be National Historic Landmarks
Americans know where the Star-Spangled Banner was written (Baltimore harbor) and where Lincoln was shot (Ford’s Theatre). But where on this planet did the Wicked Witch of the West melt or Bogie say, “Here’s looking at you, kid.” The Alamo happened at the Alamo, but where did Darth Vader say, “Luke, I am your father.”? It happened somewhere.