Nobody's perfect, and no matter how much we care about history we're still bound to get some things wrong. Some errors, however, are more persistent than others.
That's what we discovered this week when TIME's Olivia B. Waxman surveyed a handful of historians about the American history misconceptions they see popping up over and over again. The answers run the gamut from existential to specific, but they're all enlightening. You can click here to read the whole list and learn about the real history behind the myths.
Here's more of the history that made news this week:
Here's how to avoid the same mistake, with help from experts on Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
FROM THE TIME VAULT
Hugh Hefner on the Cover of TIME
“The magazine has many things to offer, but the basis of success is the nude or seminude photograph that Hugh Hefner has made respectable in the U.S. prints. America was undoubtedly ready for it anyway, but Hefner seized the moment. He was the first publisher to see that the sky would not fall and mothers would not march if he published bare bosoms; he realized that the old taboos were going, that, so to speak, the empress need wear no clothes. He took the old-fashioned, shame-thumbed girlie magazine, stripped off the plain wrapper, added gloss, class and culture. It proved to be a surefire formula, which more sophisticated and experienced competitors somehow had never dared contemplate.” (March 3, 1967)
“If you're an eager 28-year-old business-school graduate and you believe the Internet is going to be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, why not try to become Henry Ford? If you're an entrepreneur, why waste your time in the old world, worrying about manufacturing things and dealing with unions and OSHA inspections, when you can put your company online in three months? Why have a boss when you and three buddies can build your own publicly traded company in two years? Windows this big don't open very often. That's the reason people are flocking to the Valley, from Wall Street and Moscow and Bombay." (Sept. 27, 1999)
“Edward Moore Kennedy smiled at the TV newsmen who brandished microphones in his face. Had he yet talked over his triumph with his brother, the President of the U.S.? No, but he hoped to shortly. Had he talked to his other brother, the U.S. Attorney General? No, but he hoped to shortly. Had he talked to his father, Joseph P. Kennedy? Replied Teddy, with the quiet pride of a son who knows he has pleased a demanding parent: ‘Yes, I talked to him. He was extremely excited.’ From Old Joe on down, the Kennedy clan had every reason to be excited. For the youngest of the nine Kennedy children, the chubby little boy who used to wear bangs, had just scored a stunning political triumph.” (Sept. 28, 1962)
“Individual Influence” Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times writes about the rediscovery of an 1850s essay by an enslaved poet, and what can be learned from it.
Behind the Photo Following the misidentification of a 1924 photo of the KKK marching in Wisconsin, Ian Shapira of the Washington Post explains what’s really going on in the picture.
Font of Knowledge For the website It’s Nice That, Paul McNeil—author of a recent book about the history of typefaces—selects his six favorite typefaces.
All Dressed in White The history of wedding dresses is explored at JSTOR Daily by Summer Brennan, who surveys the literature on the topic from all around the world.
Casus Belli As tensions continue to mount between the U.S. and North Korea, Isaac Stone Fish at The Atlantic looks back at the many actions that North Korean leaders have seen as declarations of war—and why this time is different.
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