Issue

His secret diaries sparkle with the wit, wisdom, and lusty candor that made William Byrd II of Westover one of Virginia’s most engaging gentlemen

America acted deeply on the Elizabethan English imagination, working its magic in the minds of poets and men of science

Was it, as Navy Secretary Welles believed, “a conspiracy to overthrow the government”?

The Indians who sold Manhattan were bilked, all right, but they didn’t mind—the land wasn’t theirs anyway

A corrupt lawyer and his complaisant ally ran San Francisco as their private preserve until a crusading editor toppled their plots and schemes, and sent one of them to jail

Animals a-coming two by two: Up went the lid and you could stuff them in, Noah and all. Or you could throw them at Brother. A toy is pretty adaptable.

As the frontier moved westward and wildlife declined, the tireless Audubon drove himself to record its wonders