Sarah Pruitt

The colossal power of the atomic bomb drove the world’s two leading superpowers into a new confrontation.

Eighty years ago, people across the allied nations rejoiced in the defeat of Hitler and the Nazis with mass parades and celebrations.

The fateful events at Chappaquiddick ended Mary Jo Kopechne’s life and derailed Ted Kennedy’s presidential ambitions for good.

Goodall's unconventional research methods reshaped science’s view of chimpanzees—and humans.

Amid an escalating arms race, civil defense drills offered comically simple strategies for surviving an atomic attack.

These eight men and women (among others) shared atomic secrets that enabled the Soviet Union to successfully detonate its first nuclear weapon by 1949.

One hundred years ago, a misdemeanor trial in the town of Dayton, Tennessee captured the world's attention as a high school teacher stood accused of violating a state law that prohibited teaching evolution.

From sharpened rocks to polished stone axes, Stone Age human ancestors made progressively more complex devices over 2.6 million years.

The Declaration of Independence played a critical role in unifying the colonies for the bloody struggle they faced.

Long before he rose to become a ruthless dictator, the Nazi leader was a struggling young artist.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, a giant limestone figure with the body of a lion and the head of a man wearing a pharaoh’s headdress, is the national symbol of Egypt—both ancient and modern—and one of the world’s most famous monuments. Despite its iconic status, geologists, archaeologists, Egyptologists and others continue to debate the Sphinx’s […]

The Independence Day tradition dates nearly as far back as the country's beginning and was proposed by one of the Founding Fathers.

As the Civil War drew to a close, Lincoln spoke about how the North and South must work together.

Amid fierce controversy, public health officials in both cities decided children would be better off in classrooms.

Women working while pregnant in the United States have faced shifting rules and protections through the decades.

A lot was on the line, and not just for Democrats in Congress.

Theodore Roosevelt's views stood out as progressive for the time—even as they were tempered by traditionalism.

The cult-classic sci-fi series made an enduring cultural impact way beyond the world of television.

From ancient Egypt to the Chicago World's Fair, pickles have had a staggeringly long run on the world's culinary stage.

Crashed UFOs, alien autopsies and government cover-ups—untangling the legend surrounding Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand might not have happened but for an odd coincidence that placed him right in front of his assassin’s gun.

When the federal government was called in to suppress a railroad workers' strike, dozens were killed and politicians sought a way to show they still supported workers.

Hamilton lobbied against Burr, but another federalist cast the deciding vote for Thomas Jefferson.

Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover had made his career fighting the perceived threat of communism.

Project Star Gate operated between 1972 and 1995 and attempted to offer, in the words of one congressman, "a hell of a cheap radar system."

The 2005 hurricane and subsequent levee failures led to death and destruction—and dealt a lasting blow to leadership and the Gulf region.

Through amendments and legal rulings, the Constitution has transformed in some critical ways.

The split between the two main sects within Islam goes back some 1,400 years.

He is one of the most commonly painted figures in Western art. But what do we really know about his appearance?

Though the terms are often used interchangeably, socialism and communism are different in key ways.

The catalog was the Amazon.com of its time—packaged in hundreds of pages.

High speeds, a wrong turn, weather conditions and lack of binoculars all contributed to one of the worst maritime tragedies.

The June 1969 riots at New York City's Stonewall Inn marked a raucous turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Here's a timeline of how it unfolded.

In one of the worst riots in US history, some 43 people lost their lives and thousands more were injured or arrested.

On March 29, 1974, Chinese farmers digging a well near Xi’an made one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

The Remembrance Day symbolism of the poppy started with a poem written by a World War I brigade surgeon who was struck by the sight of the red flowers growing on a ravaged battlefield.

Beginning in the late 19th century, around a dozen carved skulls made of clear or milky white quartz—also known as rock crystal—made their way into private and public collections around the globe.

Mamie Tape's bid to desegregate San Francisco schools went to the California Supreme Court seven decades before Brown v. Board.

From 1778 to 1871, the United States signed some 368 treaties with various Indigenous people across the North American continent.

Many Allied bombings released the equivalent energy of 300 lightning strikes and temporarily weakened the ionosphere, say researchers.

Albert Einstein's concept of general relativity is now a bedrock of physics, but it took years to confirm.

Florence Owens Thompson was a Cherokee woman who was a young mother and cotton picker when Dorothea Lange captured her image in the Depression-era photo.

Anna Jarvis, who founded Mother's Day in 1908, passionately opposed its growing commercialization and eventually campaigned against the holiday.

Many saw this multi-talented president as as a symbol of American promise and potential—but he would only end up serving four months in office.

Once one of Jesus’s most trusted disciples, Judas became the poster child for treachery and cowardice.

Bulgur biscuits and a granulated synthetic protein dubbed 'multi-purpose food' promised long shelf life—but not much else.

Scholars have investigated the issue for centuries, but many questions persist.

Not only was it the first 'people's Bible,' but its poetic cadences and vivid imagery have had an enduring influence on Western culture.

What's really known about the Bible's most mysterious woman?

A sixth-century image discovered in Israel depicts Jesus with short, curly hair.

Journalist, feminist and activist Gloria Steinem is one of the most visible advocates for women’s rights of the 20th and 21st centuries.