Of the most overlooked and least understood participants in the American Civil War: the women of the North. Unlike their Confederate counterparts, who were often caught in the midst of the conflict, most Northern women remained far from the dangers of battle. Nonetheless, they enlisted in the Union cause on their home ground, and the experience transformed their lives. Nina Silber traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the...

A collection of 10 classic movies staring Bob Hope. Give me a sailor: Jim enlists Letty to help him win over her sister if he helps set her up with his brother. Thanks for the memory: A stay-at-home author and his working wife discover their domestic roles are not clear cut in this comedy of errors. Never say die: A gold-digging widow tries to trap a millionaire into a hasty wedding. Caught in the draft: Hope plays a gun-shy movie star who gets...

"A feminist, an outspoken activist, a woman without a college education, Midge Costanza was one of the unlikeliest of White House insiders. Yet in 1977 she became the first female Assistant to the President for Public Liaison under Jimmy Carter, emerging as a prominent focal point of the American culture wars. Tasked with bringing the views of special interest groups to the president, Costanza championed progressive causes even as Americans grew increasingly...