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Bruce Watson on Muck Rack

Bruce Watson

Massachusetts
As seen in: Medium, The Washington Post, Aol, Smithsonian Magazine, Nautilus, American Heritage, New England Public Media, Minority Reporter
Covers:  American history, literature, art, lore, travel.
Doesn't Cover: Fashion, beauty, politics, celebrity
Weekly online magazine profiling American Dreamers, Wonders, Rebels, Wit. . . For a kinder, cooler America. Come in and rummage.

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Bruce Watson’s Biography

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Frequent contributor to Smithsonian. Author of five books, including Freedom Summer, Sacco and Vanzetti, and Bread and Roses (Viking) plus Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age (Bloomsbury.). Currently writing The Attic, weekly articles on American culture, arts, humor, history, women, Americana. The Attic -- True Stories for a Kinder, Cooler America -- theattic.space

Bruce Watson’s Journalist Portfolio

The Attic -- For a Kinder, Cooler America

The Attic -- For a Kinder, Cooler America

American history, arts and literature, humor... True stories for a kinder, cooler America

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Catch Us If You Can - Issue 42: Fakes - Nautilus

Catch Us If You Can - Issue 42: Fakes - Nautilus

Fakes, impostors, pretenders who perform surgery, fly planes, or just pose as someone they're not. How do th…

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Black Like Me, 50 Years Later

Black Like Me, 50 Years Later

When John Howard Griffin darkened his skin and toured the South, he said what blacks there had been saying al…

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The President and the Lunatic

The President and the Lunatic

The list of presidential assassins is short -- Booth, Oswald, Czolgosz. But one name is all but forgotten. …

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Jon Stewart: Beyond The Moments Of Zen

Jon Stewart: Beyond The Moments Of Zen

Jon Stewart, ex-host of "The Daily Show," has been called a "cultural force," a "fourth branch of government,…

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Stephen Colbert: Beyond Truthiness

Stephen Colbert: Beyond Truthiness

E-biography of Colbert from his scarred childhood to his rise to "The Colbert Report."

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Articles

Finding the Real Jamestown

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By Edwin Grosvenor Verified, William Kelso, James Swanson, Bruce Watson
| American Heritage Verified
Forget much of what you know about the Jamestown colony. For the past 200 years, many archaeologists and historians believed that the James River had largely eroded any traces of the original settlement over the intervening four centuries. Our excavations, ongoing since 1994, have proved otherwise: we have uncovered more than 250 feet of two palisade wall lines, the east bulwark line, three cellars, a building—all part of the original triangular fort.
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The Comic Revolution

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By Edwin Grosvenor Verified, Bruce Watson
| American Heritage Verified
Editor's Note: Bruce Watson is a Contributing Editor at American Heritage and has authored several critically acclaimed books. He writes a history blog at The Attic. FEB 25, 1950 — AMERICA’S LIVING ROOMS — For a silent majority of Americans, it’s another ho-hum Saturday night at the radio. Just 10 percent of homes have this new-fangled thing called television. The rest listen, as they have for decades, to Jack Benny, “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Fibber McGee and Molly. .
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“Murder Most Foul”

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By Edwin Grosvenor Verified, Eugene Meyer, Paul Dickson, Bruce Watson
| American Heritage Verified
Two shots rang out in the railroad station, and the President of the United States slumped to the floor, mortally wounded Early on the morning of July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was awakened in the White House by his two older sons, Harry, seventeen, and James, fifteen. Their mood was sportive, for they were all about to leave on a vacation together. They challenged their father to jump over the bed.
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

GROUCHO: Well stop follwing me or I'll have you arrested.

Have you ever used a typewriter?

Yes, for years. I do not miss them but I have an old one in my attic where I often write.

How is social media changing news?

For the worse. News is news -- things happening. What people are saying or Tweeting about the news, even if it's the president, isn't news.

Awards

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ASCAP Deems Taylor Music Writing Award

1998 - Music Journalism

Given annually to magazine journalists writing about music.

New York Public Library 25 Books to Remember

2005

Annual library selection of 25 books, fiction and non-fiction, to be remembered. Given to "Bread and Roses: Mills, Migrants, and the Struggle for the American Dream" (Viking)

Edgar Award nominee

2007 - True Fact Crime

Annual Mystery Writers of America award for best true-fact crime book. "Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind" (Viking) nominated.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize -- nominee

2017 - Science and Technology

LA Times annual awards for best books in various categories. "Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age" (Bloomsbury) was nominated.