Why Henry George Matters in This Second Gilded Age Edward T. O’Donnell What value does the story of Henry George, a self-taught economist from the late nineteenth century, hold for Americans living in the early 21st century? Quite a lot, if we stop to consider the ways in which contemporary … [Read more...]
Why Henry George Matters in This Second Gilded Age
The Birth of Labor Day
Back in the late nineteenth century Labor Day meant something more than a three-day weekend and the unofficial end of summer. This unique holiday was first celebrated on September 5, 1882. On that day thousands of workers in New York City risked getting fired for taking an unauthorized day off to … [Read more...]
Tubman on the New $20 Bill – Move Over Jackson
[Note: a version of this piece originally ran in the Huffington Post on April 23, 2016; You can also hear this and related pieces in Episode 010 of my podcast, In The Past Lane] The recent announcement by the United States Treasury Department that Harriet Tubman, escaped slave and abolitionist, … [Read more...]
Hercules Mulligan, Patriot Mentor and Spymaster
Who was Hercules Mulligan? Well, he certainly was a man with one of the great names in American history. Hercules Mulligan – you can’t make up a name like that. But beyond that great name, Hercules Mulligan has existed as a mere footnote for the last 200+ years of American history. That is, until … [Read more...]
America’s Last Ice Age (more recent than you think)
What on earth is an “ice famine”? Well, if you were alive in the nineteenth century and the U.S. was experiencing winter as mild as this one in 2012-2013, the newspapers would be full of stories about a potential “ice famine.” The problem was not a shortage of ice in January and February, but rather … [Read more...]
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