<p><span class="deck">Discreet helpers have worked on the speeches and papers of many Presidents, but a nation in a time of trial will respond best “to the Great Man himself, standing alone”</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> As the frontier moved westward and wildlife declined, the tireless Audubon drove himself to record its wonders</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> When four aristocratic blackquards were jailed for a brutal murder, justice seemed triumphant. But these were no ordinary criminals, and justice needed eloquent help</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck">The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">A historian of American portraits tells how he determines whether a picture is authentic and why that authenticity matters.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Fistfights broke out in Congress in 1850 over whether the territories just won in the Mexican War should be slave or free—and only a last-minute series of compromises prevented catastrophe.</span></p>
