June 16, 2015
All That Glitters
During the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s, “Soapy” Smith made a fortune taking advantage of would-be millionaires. A hundred years later, the aspirational rich are still the easiest targets.
Read MoreRoundtable
Opinions and analysis from Lapham’s Quarterly writers and editors.
May 8, 2025
June 11, 2015
The Rest Is History
George Washington goes all-natural, Amelia Earhart makes an on-screen appearance, and two early meteorologists battle for supremacy.
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June 10, 2015
Glossary: Philanthropy
From agape to zakat, philanthropic words and their definitions.
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June 09, 2015
Confidence Codes
Scam artists from South Asia and Africa have been known for years by their colonial penal-code numbers.
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June 05, 2015
The Rest Is History
A Bronze Age teenager hits the road, a magazine catalogs London’s prostitutes, and every character in Charles Dickens’ world gets a television show.
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May 29, 2015
The Rest Is History
A CIA agent files his expense reports, Napoleon reconsiders his marriage options, and Ken Burns tears up the dance floor.
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May 22, 2015
The Rest Is History
Two missing engravings leave everyone a suspect, the allure of the masculine astronaut, and the house that built Gatsby is for sale.
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May 21, 2015
By Reason of Insanity
The first successful use of the insanity plea was a high-profile murder trial that riveted antebellum America.
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May 15, 2015
The Rest Is History
Female philosophers left out of the canon, a memoir saved by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and a gruesome medieval discovery under a Paris supermarket.
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August 07, 2023
Monumental Mistakes
2023:
Fitness instructor carves his girlfriend’s name into the Colosseum.
c. 1850:
Thompson of Sunderland makes his mark on Pompey’s pillar.
May 22, 2023
Revolutionary Lovebirds
2023:
Writers on strike search for romance at the picket line.
c. 1945:
Young communists engage in party matchmaking.