September 2023

Banneker’s Answer to Jefferson: “I Am an American”

Banneker washington — Peter Waddell's "A Vision Unfolds" imaginatively depicts Benjamin Banneker advising President Washington and fellow surveyor Andrew Ellicott on the layout of the proposed federal capital. Courtesy of Peter Waddell and The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, Free and Accepted Masons

Editor’s Note: Benjamin Banneker was born free in 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland in an environment in which abject deference to white people was not as deeply embedded as it was farther south. He was gifted in the sciences and became a naturalist and almanac-maker. In his 60th year, he wrote a letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, challenging the famous espouser of liberty – and owner of over 200 slaves – to get beyond the doctrine of white supremacy and to support racial equality in the new nation.

The Man Who Blew Himself Up

34 East 62nd St in 1917. New York Landmarks Preservation — *This is the brownstone at 34 East 62nd Street as it appeared in 1917. New York Landmarks Preservation*

Editor's Note: Over his sixty-year career, the legendary Gay Talese helped define contemporary literary journalism and is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism, along with Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, and Hunter S. Thompson. Portions of this essay appeared in his new book, Bartleby and Me: Reflections of an Old Scrivener, just published.

Teddy Falls in Love with the West

Editor's Note: H.W. Brands is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of twenty books on American history, including two that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He adapted the following from his recent book, Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West.

Theodore Roosevelt in his first buckskins — *In 1885, when he was 28, Roosevelt posed in his buckskins. Library of Congress*

Winter 2024

What Was a Woman Doing There?

Editor's Note: Bill Garrett was Dickey Chapelle's primary contact at National Geographic and often worked with her on assignments in the field. He wrote these observations about his friend and colleague shortly after her death. Garrett later became the Editor of National Geographic.

Dickey Chapelle in Vietnam shortly before she was killed. — *This is one of the last photos of Dickey Chapelle, shortly before she was killed in Quang Ngai province.*

A rainbow decorated the western sky that early morning of November 4 — the second day of Operation Black Ferret. Action began at 0745 when American Marines moved toward a cane field surrounding a village held by the Viet Cong near Chu Lai, South Viet Nam.