Search results for

When British forces occupied and helped create Iraq after World War I, they faced insurgencies, revolts, and multiple religious factions. Gertrude Bell, a British national who helped establish the Iraqi state, wrote detailed letters describing the country and its occupation.

Stanford linguist Geoff Nunberg takes a look at the long history of the word "suburb." For most Americans of the 1950s, Nunberg says, the word had a spanking-new feel to it, arriving around the same time as crab grass, barbeque and car pool. But he says the word goes back to the late middle ages.

Innovations like the washing machine may have made housework easier -- but by raising standards of cleanliness, they also created more work. NPR's Susan Stamberg concludes her series on leisure by exploring the history of housework with historian Susan Strasser.

2: Political and social comic, JIMMY TINGLE. He was featured on the album of political humor "Strange Bedfellows." He's also appeared on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," "HBO's One Night Stand," and in Showtime's documentary "But Seriously" about American social satirists. TINGLE has a new one-man show, "Jimmy Tingle's Uncommon Sense," which had an off-Broadway run last year. It's just been held over through November 4th at the Hasty Pudding Theatre in Cambridge. TINGLE's show will be released on a new CD, "Jimmy Tingle's Uncommon Sense: Live from the Hasty Pudding Theatre" (Lyric Moon re

Wazmah Osman, associate professor of Globalization and Development Communication at Temple University, puts the day's events into historic perspective.

NPR's Nina Totenberg describes recent experiences that made her aware of living history. The first was the unveiling of a federal judge's portrait. The second was program notes at a symphony concert that mentioned her father, Roman Totenberg.

Brian Wright of member station WUKY reports on the exhibit, Imperial China: The Art of the Horse in Chinese History, currently showing at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The display features artifacts, such as chariots and harnesses, from eight dynasties, covering three thousand years. It traces the development of the horse and related artwork.

It's a topic often debated during the month of February: How should we teach black history to the country's students? We put that question to some educators and researchers.

When it comes to American Revolutionary War history, we messed up and should be tarred and feathered. NPR's Robert Siegel and Kelly McEvers correct a mistake we should have caught on Friday's program: when the Revolutionary War actually ended.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Sarah Barringer Gordon, a historian of religion and a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania. Barringer Gordon says polygamy became a contentious issue in the 19th century United States, when some Mormons adopted the practice in the Utah Territory. Historians say the federal government's role in resolving that conflict could influence how the gay marriage debate is handled.