History

By Jacqueline Cutler Three of the most majestic — certainly the most democratic — words in the English language are the start of the United States Constitution: “We the people.” To see how the Constitution continues to be brought to life, Peter Sagal (pictured) of NPR’s Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! news quiz show sets out across the country on a customized red, white and blue Harley-Davidson, interviewing various people along the way. The result is PBS’ four-week series Constitution USA With Peter Sagal. “The great thing about Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! is it treats everything with [...]

Makers Women Who Make America “In my textbook, in college, it had one sentence [about women’s history] that said, ‘Women were given the vote.’” In our interview, legendary social justice activist and key figure in the women’s movement Gloria Steinem recalls the early days of that movement, when she and others, perhaps naively, thought that changes to a gender inequality that had existed for centuries — and even been written into law, in some cases — were going to be easy and quick. “If you don’t know how change is made,” says Steinem, “you assume that freedom or privileges or [...]

Updated March 19, 2013, 11:18am CT As we approach the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, journalist Rachel Maddow looks at the key government decisions that led the United States into the war, through a new documentary called Hubris: Selling the Iraq War, premiering Feb. 18 at 9pm ET on MSNBC. UPDATE 3/19/13: MSNBC will be re-airing Hubris: Selling the Iraq War Friday, March 22, at 9pm ET, followed by Talking Hubris at 10pm ET, hosted by Chris Hayes. Hubris: Selling the Iraq War is based on the book Hubris, co-written by NBC News National Investigative Correspondent [...]