October 2022

Stormy Weather for Queen Elizabeth

reagan elizabeth wedding — *During her 1983 trip to the U.S., Queen Elizabeth gave remarks at a dinner in her honor at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Reagan Library*

Haunted by Authors: Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Editor’s Note: Greg Melville teaches English at the U.S. Naval Academy and is the author of several books, including Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America's Cemeteries, from which this essay was adapted.

The Ultimate Congressional Scandal

nast mobilier — *With so many members of Congress involved in the scandal, cartoonists such as Thomas Nast at* Harpers Weekly had a field day pointing the finger at malfeasance. American Heritage Collection

Editor’s Note: Robert Mitchell is an editor with the Washington Post News Service and the author of two books on American history, including Congress and the King of Frauds: Corruption and the Credit Mobilier Scandal at the Dawn of the Gilded Age, from which he adapted this essay.

Drake Discovers California

(From In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire

Queen Elizabeth’s favorite pirate, Francis Drake, was a hot-tempered, red-haired rogue who plundered and pillaged his way to the ends of the earth. A brash hustler who beguiled the nearly insolvent young queen of England with promises of gold and silver, and tales of heroic quests in distant lands.

FDR Unites America for War

The presence of Henry Stimson (right) in the wartime cabinet helped to support for wartime efforts among isolationists. Library of Congress. — *The presence of Henry Stimson (right) in the wartime cabinet helped to build support for the fight against fascism among former isolationists. Library of Congress*

Andrew Jackson: Our First Populist

jackson dewey — *Thomas Sully's 1824 painting depicts Jackson during his first presidential campaign. U.S. Senate archives*

Editor's Note: David S. Brown teaches history at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of The First Populist: The Defiant Life of Andrew Jackson, from which this essay was adapted.