August 1958
Features
In Los Angeles, Spanish friars, Mexican dons, Yankee troops, and local boosters have reared a colossus that won’t stop growing
By day and by night, frontward and back, his feet in baskets, his head in a sack, he crossed the torrent on a cable—190 feet up
Astoria was the key to the entire Northwest, but half the expedition was led by a “maniac” and the rest were trapped in Hell’s Canyon
Upon the clash of arms near a little Maryland creek hung the slave’s freedom and the survival of the Union
When he offered Congress his library, his foes charged that it was full of books which “never ought to be read” and probably ought to be burned
A retired Great Lakes ship captain left a singular record of steamboat days on America’s inland seas
The Irish built America’s roads and canals, fought in its wars, and triumphed over poverty and discrimination: it was a grand battle indeed
As the twenties roared on, a market crash became inevitable. Why? And who should have stopped it?
Rebels pulled down George III’s statue and molded part into bullets, but left behind a three-dimensional puzzle for modern researchers.
For those with the eyes to read them, New England’s forests, pastures, and stout stone walls reveal cycles of rural life
The fleet and lovely America showed her stern to Britain’s best and gave her name to international yachting’s most coveted trophy
Departments
READING, WRITING, AND HISTORY
American Heritage is proud to host the
National Portal to
Historic Collections
Recently added:
- American Revolution Center
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy
- Manassas National Battlefield
- Maryland State House
In association with the
American Association for State and Local History
Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
-
“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
-
65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
-
Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
-
40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
-
“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
-
The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
-
Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
-
The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.
