America takes a chance

Plus: misunderstandings of postpartum depression |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman Just before the 2024 election, Elon Musk devised a sweepstakes in which voters could "win" $1 million. While it was later revealed that winners would be pre-selected and not drawn at random, the scheme reflected a broader U.S. obsession with lotteries, betting, and gambling. In Made by History, Carly Goodman argues that the rise of lotteries tracks the growing uncertainty of our times.  Games of chance have been popular among Americans—if not always good for us—even as reformers have frequently sought to shut them down. But since the 1960s, states have increasingly authorized gambling more broadly, as inequality has expanded and government has divested from public goods. Indeed, she writes, luck has come to play a greater role in American lives. Sending Donald Trump back to the White House may be a gamble, but it's one the electorate has opted to take.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM The Woman Whose Crusade Gave Today’s Book-Banning Moms a Blueprint By Katie Gaddini / Made by History Norma Gabler's work in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s foreshadowed today's campaigns. Read More » How Celebrities Changed America's Postpartum Depression Narrative By Rachel Louise Moran / Made by History Celebrities have helped Americans learn about postpartum depression over the last 25 years. But the culture that has emerged from their testimonials has a crucial flaw. Read More » How Black Civil War Patriots Should Be Remembered This Veterans Day By Jonathan Lande / Made by History Black soldiers' struggles for freedom took place on and off the battlefield during the Civil War. Read More » Why I’ll Never Stop Sharing My Holocaust Story By Gidon Lev  Telling my story makes me feel empowered because what was taken from us Jews and so many others was our very humanity, writes Gidon Lev. Read More » Everything You Know About the Stanford Prison Experiment Is Wrong By Judy Berman A new docuseries challenges half a century's worth of received wisdom about the influential social psychology study. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1981: Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda MARY ELLEN MARK The Nov. 16, 1981, cover of TIME “For Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda arrive in On Golden Pond bearing with them not merely their vacation baggage but a montage of beloved images assembled from a combined 95 years of motion picture acting in 129 features, not to mention uncounted stage and television appearances. Spunky Kate and Honest Hank! If people were allowed to vote on such matters, the pair would probably be grandparents to an entire nation, since they are among the very few movie stars who have gone on working while four or five movie generations have grown up…Down the long corridor of the years, it seems we have encountered them at every turning. When they were young they gave lessons in romance; in middle age they taught steadfastness and honor; now it seems not only right but almost inevitable that they should come together—astonishingly—for the first time, to share some of the pains and puzzlements of age with us.” Read More » This week in 1992: Bill Clinton STEVE LISS The Nov. 16, 1992, cover of TIME “At 46, Clinton will be the third youngest President in history, out-youthed only by Kennedy and Theodore Roosevelt…A few weeks ago, on his campaign plane, Clinton allowed himself a moment of introspection about what his election would mean to a generation whose first political act was both protesting — and serving in — an unpopular war. 'If I win,' he said softly, 'it will finally close the book on Vietnam.' Whether marching in the streets or marching in uniform, Vietnam introduced baby boomers to the sober realities of power. Another generation chose Vietnam as a battleground, but in very personal terms Clinton and his peers had to face the consequences of that decision. Now a child of postwar prosperity has ascended to the presidency. How both Bill Clinton and his generation adjust to their newfound power will determine the fate not only of the baby boomers but of the nation itself.” Read More » This week in 2003: Russell Crowe Nigel Parry The Nov. 10, 2003, cover of TIME “But Crowe has something more than an agreeable presence and technical precision. He can convey inner strength, rage and desperation without ever pushing it. People see this power and think Brando. No doubt Crowe has done so too. (In an earlier incarnation he went by the name Russ Le Roq and recorded a single called 'I Want to Be like Marlon Brando.') He's muscular as well, and it's earned bulk, not the pretty-boy sculpture of the body builder. Like Brando, Crowe could play a biker, a dockworker, a mafioso or Stanley Kowalski… So Master and Commander is to movies what Russell Crowe is to acting. With subtlety and power, it explores the complexities of men at war, even with themselves. It puts the passion into action, and the thrill into thought.” Read More »

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