STANDUP TAKES THE STAGE
Long before Netflix and Comedy Central, standup started in a single spot — the Borscht Belt.
VERA RUBIN, DOYENNE OF DARK MATTER
The Mt. Palomar Observatory had no women's restroom. Until Vera Rubin taped a paper skirt on the door. Meet the woman who changed our view of the cosmos and of women in science.
HOLLYWOOD'S TOP DOG -- RIN-TIN-TIN
Beloved dogs abound but none captured hearts like Rin-tin-tin. Not even Hollywood could make this up.
THE BEAGLE WHO CHANGED CARTOONS
Snoopy is a salesman now but for five wonderful years, he broke all the cartoon rules and changed American comics.
A POEM AND ITS PARODIES -- THIS IS JUST TO SAY...
A refrigerator note. A spark of genius. A classic poem and the senders it inspired.
THE ASTRONAUT WHO NEVER CAME DOWN
After Apollo 14, Edgar Mitchell kept soaring. ESP? Psychokinesis? UFOs? When you’ve been to the Moon, anything seems possible.
THE CONSERVATIVE AND THE 'COMMIE'
When a radical Mexican muralist began to paint at Dartmouth, some wanted his work destroyed. The college president refused.
A FLAG ON THE MOON
The astronauts rehearsed every maneuver for the moon landing, except planting the flag. Oops!
ERIC HOFFER, LONGSHOREMAN WITH A LIBRARY CARD
When The True Believer made his name, Eric Hoffer was a San Francisco longshoreman. Decades later, the zealots he labeled “true believers,” are still “everywhere on the march.”
BASEBALL'S P.T. BARNUM
Owing team after team, Bill Veeck loved baseball and fans and fun. Not necessarily in that order.
THE COURT AND THE FLAG
With soldiers coming home in flag-draped caskets, the Supreme Court considered the Pledge of Allegiance. The ruling may surprise you.
THE WOMAN WHO SPOKE TO COMPUTERS
When Grace Hopper met those beastly first computers, they spoke only in numbers. “Grandma COBOL” soon taught them English.
HOLDEN CAULFIELD HITS THE BEACH
June 6, 1944 — Sgt. Salinger, with drafts of The Catcher in the Rye in his pack, lands at Normandy.
HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE -- 13,000 KIDS, 97 BLOCKS, AND "WHATEVER IT TAKES"
The streets taught Geoffrey Canada hard lessons. His Harlem Children’s Zone is teaching success.
WHEN BIGOTRY STRUCK OUT
When the Massachusetts team went South, its star black player came face-to-face with Jim Crow. And guess what the whole team did for Bunny?
