Damn History #93 / August 2025

I started reading a published personal-history essay that began, “Shortly before my father passed…”

I stopped reading. Why not say he died? Passed sounds vague, like Dad wandered off somewhere. I don’t want vagueness in the essays I read, yet I’ve seen passed in print more often recently. The Google Books Ngram Viewer confirms that the published use of passed away is now at a 132-year high.

Readers and writers of popular history often encounter death. It comes from following the experiences of people in the past. Using euphemisms for death creates emotional distance. In conversation, in mourning, we might seek that. In writing and reading, we rarely should. The next time you come up against passed as a synonym for died, consider what the word is really expressing. Does it draw you in or push you away?

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

 — Jack El-Hai

Follow me on X at @Jack_ElHai, on Bluesky at @jackelhai.bsky.social, and on Threads at @jackelhai1.

Contact me by email at [email protected]

Personal Notes

Now out: A 30-second teaser (shorter than a trailer) for Nuremberg, the forthcoming movie adapted from my book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist. The film will have its world premiere on September 7 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and it will open at 1,200 theaters in the U.S. on November 7. It will open in cinemas in the U.K. on November 14, and in Italy, Spain, and many other countries after that.

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.

In yet another release from the FBI, newly unsealed files on air hijacker D.B. Cooper describe the significance of a clip-on tie he left behind.

A mystery over the fate of the alleged survivor of a disastrous shipwreck is finally solved.

A documentary filmmaker wages a long crusade against Hitler’s favorite director, Leni Riefenstahl.

Dude is a word with a storied history.

A formerly enslaved family bought Jefferson Davis’s plantation house after the Civil War.

Someone has compiled a list of the many things Jane Austen disliked.

Hitchhiking continues a long decline.

Colonial Americans couldn’t tar and feather people they disliked without rope.

In an unusual video from 1956, newspaper columnist Drew Pearson climbs into an iron lung and tries to report on the polio epidemic from within.

The history of Norman Greenbaum’s 1969 song “Spirit in the Sky”suggests the reasons for its persistent popularity.

Resources

An enterprising scholar pursues trans history despite many obstacles.

Published for the first time: a newly discovered essay by Mark Twain.

Nicola Tesla appears in an early example of a manipulated/fake photo.

Fake images and memes plague social media posts about Native American history.

News from the past: “About once a year every middle-aged man pauses to ponder if he is yet attractive to young women. He is not.” – The Frankfort Index, Kansas, April 26, 1930

On writing: “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” – Mary Oliver

Housekeeping

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About me: I'm a history and science writer. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, and many others. My books include Face in the Mirror, 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 frequently give talks and lead workshops on the topics of my books as well as on the craft of nonfiction writing. To book me for your event, please contact Jayme Boucher, Hachette Speakers Bureau, at [email protected].

Please feel free to get in touch.