AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

Recent rehabilitation of this important site at the Gettysburg battlefield provides a much improved experience for visitors.

John Dickinson: Forgotten Founder

by Jane E. Calvert

Dickinson played a pivotal role in our Nation’s founding, from the Stamp Act to ratifying the Constitution, but his contributions are largely forgotten by history.

“Shall We Have a King?”

by William E. Leuchtenburg

Some delegates at the Constitutional Convention wanted a strong executive, while others feared the American president might become a king.

Important Early Maps of America

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

In the Age of Discovery, maps held closely guarded secrets for the kings, adventurers, and merchants who first acquired them.

Still “Crazy” for Patsy Cline

by Holley Snaith

Since her untimely death in 1963, the legendary country music star—and the first female to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame—continues to inspire new audiences and artists.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

A Yankee Among The War Lords | October 1970, Vol 21, No 6

By Barbara W. Tuchman

First of the Three Parts from STILWELL THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHINA 1911-1945

America: Experiment or Destiny? | June 1977, Summer 2025, Vol 28, No 4

By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

We can take pride in our nation, not as we pretend to a commission from God and a sacred destiny, but as we struggle to fulfill our deepest values in an inscrutable world.

Finding the Real Jamestown | Winter 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By William M. Kelso

The archaeologist who discovered the real Jamestown debunks myths, and answers age-old mysteries about North America's first successful English colony.

"I Had Prayed to God That This Thing Was Fiction…" | February 1990, Vol 41, No 1

By William Wilson

He didn’t want the job, but felt he should do it. For the first time, the soldier who tracked down the My Lai story for the office of the inspector general in 1969 tells what it was like to do some of this era’s grimmest detective work.

Columbus and Genocide | October 1975, Vol 26, No 6

By Edward T. Stone

The discoverer of the New World was responsible for the annihilation of the peaceful Arawak Indians

Ike's Son Remembers George S. Patton Jr. | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2

By John D. Eisenhower

The author, who once served under General Patton and whose father, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was Patton's commanding officer, shares his memories of "Ol' Blood and Guts."

Today in History

General James McPherson born

Union Major General James McPherson is born in Clyde, Ohio. McPherson graduated first in the West Point Class of 1853 and spent his entire career in the United States Army before being mortally wounded at the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.
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Apalachin Meeting

State and local law enforcement raid the Apalachin Meeting of over one hundred North American mafiosi, who had gathered at the rural estate of Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara. By arresting and questioning a majority of the mafiosi, the federal government confirmed the presence of the American mafia.
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Joe McCarthy born

Future United States Senator Joseph McCarthy is born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. McCarthy served in the Marines during World War II before being elected to represent Wisconsin the Senate, where he served from 1947 until his death in 1957. McCarthy is most famous for his campaign to identify and quash communist threats during the Cold War, better known as McCarthyism.
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