Damn History \ Issue 87 \ February 2025

Welcome this month to the many new subscribers of Damn History.

Every few weeks someone asks me for advice on becoming a popular-history writer. I don’t have as much to say as I used to, because much of what I did decades ago to begin my career won’t work anymore. But I still have a few tips to offer that aren’t obsolete:

• Keep a journal of ideas, inspiration, questions, and observations.

• Write only about popular-history stories that genuinely intrigue you or, better yet, obsess you. Forget about the rest.

• Understand that most of the good stuff in historical archives has not been digitized.

• Present or adapt your work in as many different forms and media as you can. Collaborate with others.

• Join writers’ organizations and networks of people with an interest in history. Be active and make connections. Attend conferences and other events in person and talk to people.

• Retain ownership of your work. Do not surrender your copyright for less than it is worth; intellectual property is valuable.

Here 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

Last month marked the 20^th anniversary of the publication of my book The Lobotomist, a biography of lobotomy developer and promoter Walter Freeman. Hard to believe! The book led me to unforgettable places and people.

For a bountiful collection of my popular-history book and article recommendations, search X, Bluesky, or Threads 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.

An old painting offers evidence of the artist’s secret child.

Fifty years ago, a history-based video game gripped a generation.

The Woodstock Tree had to be chopped down.

A New Math student complains: “Our parents couldn’t help us with homework.”

Woolly dogs went extinct, but why?

The mystery of the Tucson Artifacts Hoax is unravelled.

Starting in 1973, a photographer began a years-long project of taking pictures of his wife as she left for work. (She eventually divorced him.)

Zora Neale Hurston’s final unfinished manuscript sat for years in a trunk.

Some people were nervous when the names of 500,000 World War II-era Nazi collaborators in the Netherlands went public.

A writer follows trails of memories to learn what happened when John Lennon visited her school.

In 1975 NBC changed its logo – and it plagiarized someone else’s.

Resources       

Learn about an author who could write a readable and publishable book in 27 hours.

Here is valuable advice on searching the marvelous Chronicling America digital collection of the Library of Congress.

Historian Daniel Boorstin explains why nonfiction books need to follow a dramatic structure.

Popular-history author Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City edges closer to a screen adaptation.

History is a new, hot trend in publishing and podcasting.

Don’t fall for the Page Turner scam that targets writers.

Curiosity creates empathy, among other benefits.

Housekeeping

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More next month, and thanks for looking. 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, The Washington Post Magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, Longreads 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 frequently give talks and lead workshops on the topics of my books as well as on the craft of nonfiction writing. Please contact Jayme Boucher, Hachette Speakers Bureau, at [email protected] to book me for your event.

Please feel free to get in touch.