Damn History #80 | July 2024

Summer has arrived, and I didn’t feel like writing an introductory essay.

Here in Damn History you'll find, as usual, recommendations on good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and links to my own work.

 — Jack El-Hai

Follow me on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Jack_ElHai

Contact me at [email protected]

Personal Notes

For Father’s Day, I reprised my profile of a man who suddenly acquired three-dozen sperm-donor children.

For a bountiful collection of my popular-history book, article, and audiobook recommendations, search X (formerly known as Twitter) for the hashtag #popularhistory.

Recent Popular History from All Over

You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.

A deeply troubling crime disturbed a small Minnesota town.

How Ella Fitzgerald remade the American songbook in her image.

One town in Alabama resisted school resegregation.

Archaeologists investigate why our ancestors made art in dark caves.

The FBI released its file on O.J. Simpson.

The concept of telepathy has a long, complex history.

Throughout its history, the U.S. Border Patrol has generated controversy.

While some Marx Brothers movies are ahead of their time, others are stuck in it.

Aspirin began as a bitter piece of bark.

A forgotten woman recognized the microbiological potential of a simple kitchen ingredient.

Not until an innocent man emerged from prison did residents of Tampa learn of a multitude of serial killings that had plagued the city.

Resources

Read popular-history writer Erik Larson’s advice to writers.

Is it possible to place a financial value on our memories?

Thomas Mallon debunks writer’s block.

Historian Peter Brown argues that we are not locked into the present.

How to craft an essay: “It starts with an idea, or an image, or a line, and then I start writing.”

Libraries and archives don’t sufficiently value old gossip magazines.

“Read what you love and don’t yet love.” – Virginia Pye

Housekeeping

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More next month, and thanks for taking a look. And you are welcome to forward Damn History in its entirety to anyone.

About me: I'm a writer whose beat is history. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, The Washington Post Magazine, Longreads.com, and many others. My books include The Lost Brothers: A Family’s Decades-Long Search, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goering, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WW2. I often give presentations to groups of writers, readers, and others.

Please feel free to get in touch.