BOSTON — Every American schoolchild is taught the legend of Paul Revere’s midnight ride. We envision the solitary rider galloping through the Massachusetts darkness, shouting warnings of the approaching British regulars. However, history has largely obscured a second, equally perilous mission Revere undertook that same night: a desperate race to secure a heavy trunk of […]

If you have ever scanned a QR code to earn "stars" for a latte or checked your credit card app to see how many "points" you’ve accumulated for a flight, you are participating in a behavioral ritual that was perfected over a century ago. Long before the era of digital algorithms and big data, the […]

For the modern American, the Declaration of Independence is a static, sacred object. It resides behind bulletproof glass and a titanium frame at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., a silent sentinel of the nation’s founding. Yet, as historian Emily Sneff reveals in her groundbreaking new book, When the Declaration of Independence Was News, there […]

The image of Paul Revere is etched into the American consciousness as the solitary horseman galloping through the moonlit Massachusetts countryside, shouting warnings of an impending British advance. We remember the "one if by land, two if by sea" lanterns and the frantic ride to Lexington on the night of April 18, 1775. However, history […]

In the collective American imagination, the Declaration of Independence is a static, sacred object—a sheet of yellowed parchment housed safely behind bulletproof glass and titanium frames at the National Archives. It is viewed as the "birth certificate" of a nation, an immutable decree that instantly transformed thirteen colonies into a sovereign power. However, as historian […]