The temperance movement in the United States gained steam in the late 19th century, and by the early 20th century, many political candidates would be asked "Are you 'dry' or 'wet?'" This single issue led to the creation of the 18th Amendment in 1919, which effectively prohibited the manufacturing, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors. After fourteen years, the 21st Amendment was passed,...

Not your parents's history of photography, this Web presentation of a public television production is divided into topical features rather than using a more traditional chronological approach. These features include the use of photography in art, as persuasion, to affect social change, in presidential image-making, and the photography of war. Probably the most entertaining area of the site is the...

Sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation, this site contains important historical material about the president who garnered the sobriquet "Silent Cal." Along with a variety of galleries featuring rotating exhibits of visual material related to President Coolidge, there is an archive of his speeches ranging from his time as governor of Massachusetts to his time as President. There is...

Conelrad is a site devoted to all aspects of atomic culture in the United States, presented in an informative and visual stimulating fashion. Founded in April 1999 by two Cold War veterans, Ken Sitz and Bill Geerhart, the site is a vast clearinghouse of articles, interviews, book reviews, and visual and audio documents related to the post-WWII atomic culture that flourished for close to two...

Last week at a conference held at the legendary Watergate complex in Washington DC, Professor Bill Gaines of the University of Illinois announced that, after four years, he and his journalism students had concluded that Fred Fielding (former assistant to President Nixon) was the legendary "Deep Throat" who provided information about the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of President...

For educators, students, and persons looking for information about any period in American history will find the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Web site an excellent resource containing thousands of helpful materials ranging from the colonial period to the present day. The site is divided into three main sections: Resources by Period, Resources by Topic, and the Reference Room. Users...

Martin Luther King Jr.'s last year of life was complex, and prior to his assassination he was involved in a number of ambitious projects. This compelling and thoughtful documentary produced by Kate Ellis and Stephen Smith of American RadioWorks (in cooperation with the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University) closely examines this period of King's life. The...

Created as a follow-up to the PBS film "Surviving the Dust Bowl," this Web site discusses the Dust Bowl with respect to the political, cultural, and economic environment of the 1930s. The site contains detailed descriptions of important people and events of the time period, including the worst storm of the Dust Bowl, known as Black Sunday, and the mass migration from the Great Plains states. The...

It is difficult at times for young people (and people in general) to understand the past, even the more recent past of the past century or so. It seems almost banal to observe that many aspects of life have changed dramatically, and perhaps not so banal to note that many things have in fact not changed as much as we think. This fine site contains a number of interactive exercises (drawing on the...

Begun in 1994 by the history department of Rutgers University, the Oral History Archive of World War II site (last mentioned in the April 7, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences) features transcriptions of interviews with 238 veterans (both men and women) of the war. While the project began with members of the Rutgers class of 1942, it was later expanded to involve many more alumni. The...