Allen Barra
Allen Barra is a sports journalist who writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal. He formerly served as an editor for American Heritage, where he wrote about 20th century sports and popular culture. His 2009 book, Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee, was followed by Rickwood Field: A Century in America's Oldest Ballpark in 2010.
Articles by this Contributor
November/December 2005
A spectacular and painstaking PBS series brings the war to the screen
June/July 2006
The creator of the immensely popular new Western discusses what makes it truly new.
June/July 2006
The classic that seeped into "Deadwood"—and many other Westerns.
June/July 2006
What does the only Western on television today have in common with the most popular TV Western ever?
October 2006
Just as the year changed the nation, so its World Series changed American sports
October 2006
In 1964 the most popular movie star in America held a license to kill from the British government
April/May 2007
Gene Wilder discusses his new World War I adventure

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.




