Just a decade ago, telephone answering machines were the butt of jokes, the object of scorn. Widely available since the late 1970s, they were just a blip on the consumer scene in the early ’80s. As ...

Answering machines were still something new on the scene in 1984. And this one, it could be said, changed the course of Georgia politics. And is still doing so. The electronic gizmo belonged to Julian ...

Note to readers: Much of what follows was drawn from a column first published in 2015: The case can be made that John Lewis’ 33-year career in Congress has its roots in an ill-conceived attempt at ...

There are cringe-worthy scenes, and then there are scenes that make you so uncomfortable that you immediately wish you were literally anywhere else doing literally anything else. Such is true of the ...

This morning I mentioned my telephone answering machine in passing and a colleague reacted as though I had just confessed to still having an 8-track in my car. “You must be the last person on the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover the anthropological intersections of tech, politics & culture. One of my favorite movies of mid-century American life is ...