In the 1800s, there were no blue recycling bins, no sorting, no recycling trucks rumbling down the alley. Recycling as we know it didn’t exist. But people were way better at it. “People recycled far more than we do now,” says Susan Strasser, author of Waste and Want: A Social ...read more

When Harry S. Truman enlisted in the army in World War I, he was struck by the number of men deemed unfit for service due to poor health. “He felt it was a reflection of inadequate health care for parts of the population,” says Randy Sowell, an archivist at the Harry S. Truman ...read more

They woke at 5 a.m., ate 5,000 calories a day, ran through chin-deep rivers, strapped sandbags to their backs and marched up and down steps. They even learned how to handle venomous snakes. They weren’t training for the latest obstacle course race or reality show. These were the ...read more