Jordan Friedman

Jordan Friedman is a New York-based writer and editor specializing in history. Jordan was previously an editor at U.S. News & World Report, and his work has also appeared in publications including National Geographic, Fortune Magazine, and USA TODAY.

Latest from this author

Yellow tape measure with a variety of weight loss medication on blue background.

From thyroid hormones to amphetamine to the “fen-phen” craze, weight-loss drugs have emerged and continuously faced scrutiny, largely due to unintended health effects. 

Directional sign to destinations in Death Valley, California.

U.S. place names are rooted in Indigenous languages, physical characteristics and honorifics for politicians and pioneers—and they can be controversial.

New Years Eve celebration at Times Square.

The completion of the transcontinental railroad drove synchronization of public clocks—and the start of celebrating at the stroke of midnight.

The 1965 U.S. law requiring health warnings on cigarette packs played a key role in bringing about a new era of tobacco regulation.

Alaska's Denali towers above the landscape at 20,310’ tall.

A gold prospector dubbed the peak Mount McKinley in 1896, but Alaskans have historically championed Denali, a name rooted in its Native American history.

U.S. and Canadian flags.

American support for annexing the British-controlled colonies to the north peaked in the 1860s and persisted into the 1900s.

A public school room in Washington, D.C. circa late 1800s.

The department, established in 1867, faced opposition from congressmen who associated it with education for the formerly enslaved.

The Gateway Arch monument against the St.Louis skyline at sunset

The monument's colorful history includes a fraudulent bond election, a mistaken design competition winner—and a civil rights protest in the sky.

CBS's Presper Eckert and Walter Cronkite, Election Night, 1952.

In 1952, news stations combined two new technologies—the TV and the computer—to forever transform how voters experience election night.

Applying a plaster cast to a patient's lower leg and foot, February 1948.

A 1929 prepaid hospital plan created in Dallas gave rise to early health insurance companies—and helped spur the growth of a major industry.