Gratitude in Six Words, From Our Readers

‘I am thankful to be thankful’ Last week, I invited readers to send us six words describing what made them thankful in 2020. It’s a form of writing — the six-word memoir — popularized by the author Larry Smith. More than 10,000 of you replied, and we’re grateful to all of you. Here is a selection of your responses...

  This Thanksgiving, It’s Time to Stop Nap-Shaming

In 2020, officeless workers learned to doze off between Zoom calls. Maybe now we can admit that the post-turkey crash is nothing to be ashamed of.

  The Thanksgiving Myth Gets a Deeper Look This Year

For many Native Americans, the Covid-19 toll and the struggle over racial inequity make this high time to re-examine the holiday, and a cruel history.

Why Gratitude Is Wasted on Thanksgiving

To be clear, I’m not saying that taking time to reflect on and show appreciation for the good in life isn’t worthwhile. It’s surely a noble act. But from a scientific perspective — where emotions exist to nudge our decisions and behaviors toward certain ends — the benefits that gratitude offers tend to be rendered irrelevant on the day it’s most expressed.

The Biggest Lies We Teach American Kids About Thanksgiving and Native Americans

The truth, many historians have noted, is quite different from this myth and paints a far less benevolent picture of the colonist-Native American relationship.

This Thanksgiving Pass the Stuffing—and Don’t Pass on the Discussion of Social Issues

Social science suggests persuasion and understanding can start at home.

How To Fight With Your Family At Thanksgiving

Set down the bowl of mashed potatoes. Don’t raise up that drumstick in anger. And, no, we’re pretty sure the solution to getting along with your family this Thanksgiving is not serving a boat of cannabis-infused gravy.

How to Support Indigenous People on Thanksgiving

Here are some ideas for what to do on Thanksgiving instead of showing your gratitude for colonizers.

It's almost Thanksgiving... Here's why I am giving thanks for property rights

This holiday, I'll be thankful that the Pilgrims were smart enough to stop doing things the hard way. Modern America should learn from that.

Native American group explores impact of Thanksgiving

For most Americans, Thanksgiving is a day to spend with family and reflect on what they are grateful for. However, for Native Americans, Thanksgiving has a different meaning.

Science stories to save you from awkward Thanksgiving conversations

Avoid politics with newts, mice, dogs, and more.

Thanksgiving, a Celebration of Inequality

For decades, Gilded Age populists and secularist crusaders criticized the holiday’s gospel of abundance.

The Correct Time to Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

In the spirit of a holiday when people, in claustrophobic proximity to their loved ones, feel compelled to take stronger-than-usual positions on issues of even minuscule import, I have a conclusion to share: The correct time to eat Thanksgiving dinner is 4 p.m. There are many obvious reasons why this is the case.

The history of Thanksgiving dinner is proof of American greatness

It’s been said that America is an essentially conservative nation; it’s also been said that America has an unholy fascination with progress. After surveying a hundred years of food writing, I suspect that perhaps both of these observations are a little bit true — I also think that Americans have wrestled these opposing instincts into a most pleasing synthesis in their Thanksgiving menus.

The Most And Least Healthy, Authentic Foods This Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be an important opportunity for family bonding and celebrating our nation's rich history. But a huge feast with all the wrong foods could actually be inauthentic and detrimental for your health.

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

As for Thanksgiving week at Plymouth Plantation in 1621, the friendship was guarded and not always sincere, and the peace was very soon abused. But for three days in New England's history, peace and friendship were there.

The Science of Thanksgiving

The answers to all your questions about the big bird: Does turkey make you sleepy? What's the difference between white and dark meat? And, stories about the bird itself.

The true story behind Thanksgiving is a bloody struggle that decimated the population and ended with a head on a stick

Our modern definition of Thanksgiving revolves around eating turkey, but in past centuries it was more of an occasion for religious observance. The storied 1621 Plymouth festivities live on in popular memory, but the pilgrims themselves would have likely considered their sober 1623 day of prayer the first true "Thanksgiving," according to the blog the History of Massachusetts.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful for these 6 ways the world is getting better

That can be hard to believe at times, but it’s true. By several metrics, people around the world are living better, healthier, happier lives. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect, but at least it’s not worse than it used to be. Here are just six examples. This is by no means a comprehensive look at the world.

Use this former diplomat’s conversation system to survive Thanksgiving

In a climate of exacerbated partisanship, as in the US in recent years, discussing politics can be stressful. Add your family to it, and it can grow to an actual nightmare: That’s why the dread of political conversations at the Thanksgiving dinner table became so widespread that it generated a whole internet literature genre on how to handle such interactions (to which, of course, this article belongs).

What was on the Menu at the First Thanksgiving?

The history of the holiday meal tells us that turkey was always the centerpiece, but other courses have since disappeared.

Why does Thanksgiving dinner make you sleepy?

When you eat carbohydrates, the pancreas releases insulin, and one effect of that is to lower the levels of all the large amino acids in your blood -- except for tryptophan. The upshot? You have relatively high levels of tryptophan in your blood, and in your brain that's converted into the neurotransmitter serotonin, and that can make you sleepy.