Major occurrences documented by contemporary accounts.
Drawing on contemporary reports from The New York Times, The Economist, and U.S. State Department records, this article reconstructs how the 1973 truckers’ strike crippled Chile’s economy and set the stage for the military coup of September 11, 1973.
Drawing on diplomatic cables, eyewitness testimony, and contemporary reports, this article reconstructs how people around the globe experienced the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis—from Kennedy’s October 22, 1962 address to the quiet resolution that followed.
Drawing on oral histories, private papers, and autobiographies, this article reconstructs the Mau Mau Emergency (1952–1956) through the eyes of those who lived it, revealing a conflict far more complex than colonial-era headlines suggested.
Drawing on the firsthand recollections of Kansas farmers, Oklahoma homesteaders, and survivors of Black Sunday, this article reconstructs the Dust Bowl as it was experienced, feared, and remembered by those who lived through it.
Drawing on contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts, this article reconstructs how the American public experienced the bank runs of 1930–31, from the chaotic run on the Bank of United States to the sweeping failures of October 1931.
In April 1975, the ARVN 18th Division held the town of Xuân Lộc for thirteen days against an entire North Vietnamese army corps, becoming the last major battle of the Vietnam War. This article reconstructs the battle from contemporary reports and scholarly analysis, revealing a story of desperate courage in a collapsing nation.
Drawing on the Peers Inquiry testimony, helicopter crewman Larry Colburn’s recollections, and Seymour Hersh’s pioneering investigation, this article reconstructs how the My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, was witnessed, suppressed, and finally documented for the public.
Drawing on front-page headlines, wire dispatches, and eyewitness reports from August 1945, this article reconstructs how American newspapers announced Japan’s surrender—from the New York Post’s ‘WAR OVER!’ to the Seattle Times’ ‘Peace!’—and what contemporaries knew, feared, and expected as World War II came to a close.
Drawing on contemporary reports, photographs, and official records, this article reconstructs how Americans experienced the 1973 oil embargo: the gas lines, the rationing, the fear, and the dawning realization that cheap oil was gone forever.
Drawing on Caroline Henderson’s Atlantic Monthly letters and Dorothea Lange’s iconic photographs, this article reconstructs the Dust Bowl as contemporaries experienced it—through personal testimony and documentary images that captured both devastation and resilience.