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Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Europeans in the Middle Ages took pains to keep themselves clean.

Time Travels

Cyclist and writer Dervla Murphy in Barcelona in 1956

Dervla Murphy: The Godmother of Hitting the Road

Perhaps the greatest female travel writer of her generation, Murphy defied the narrative of the dutiful Irish daughter—and motherhood—to find freedom.

Shared Collections

A map that shows mountains and roads in Xigu Cheng

Maps, Power, and Identity

The Ancient East Asian Maps Collection at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology demonstrates the power held and discursive work done by mapmakers.

The Where We Were

The Erechtheum

The Unusual, Unexpected Erechtheion

The Parthenon embodies the ideals of perfection Classical Greeks sought from architecture. The neighboring Erechtheion offers something else.

Plant of the Month

Quinoa seeds

Quinoa: Rise of an Andean Superfood

Once considered a minor crop for Indigenous communities, quinoa’s journey to worldwide stardom was centuries in the making.

Most Recent

The Roman Countryside by Pietro Barucci

Ride ’em, Butteri! 

Long before spaghetti westerns, Italians were turned on to an image of the American West by Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.
Beached Whale by Ida Bagus Nyoman Rai

Balinese Art, Worm Consciousness, and Exoplanets

Well-researched stories from Aeon, Nautilus, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
A black preacher addressing his mixed congregation on a plantation

When Enslaved Virginians Demanded the Right to Read

In 1723, a group of enslaved African Americans petitioned the Bishop of London to ensure that their children could attend school and learn to read the Bible.
A doctor in the Philippines checks a patient’s blood pressure assisted by Filipina Nurse C.P. De Batan, 1963

Who’s Afraid of the Filipina Coed?

Cultural depictions of the "transpacific Filipina" reflected anxieties about the changing education and social roles of women in the Cold War Philippines.

More Stories

Time Travels

Cyclist and writer Dervla Murphy in Barcelona in 1956

Dervla Murphy: The Godmother of Hitting the Road

Perhaps the greatest female travel writer of her generation, Murphy defied the narrative of the dutiful Irish daughter—and motherhood—to find freedom.

Shared Collections

A map that shows mountains and roads in Xigu Cheng

Maps, Power, and Identity

The Ancient East Asian Maps Collection at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology demonstrates the power held and discursive work done by mapmakers.

The Where We Were

The Erechtheum

The Unusual, Unexpected Erechtheion

The Parthenon embodies the ideals of perfection Classical Greeks sought from architecture. The neighboring Erechtheion offers something else.

Plant of the Month

Quinoa seeds

Quinoa: Rise of an Andean Superfood

Once considered a minor crop for Indigenous communities, quinoa’s journey to worldwide stardom was centuries in the making.

Long Reads

William Carlos Williams, 1921

A Centennial Celebration of Spring and All

William Carlos Williams's hybrid work of poetry and prose both upended narrative conventions and delighted in the wondrous, unifying force of imagination.
A page from The Angolite that features a photograph of a prison guard holding a shotgun while watching prisoners work in a field.

Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation

"Except as punishment for a crime," reads the constitutional exception to abolition. In prison plantations across the United States, slavery thrives.
Sa Ga Yeath Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas by John Simon

Indigenous Kings in Londontown

In 1710, Queen Anne of England feted four Native American dignitaries—would-be political allies. Their presence at a performance of Macbeth caused a stir.
The cover of the Song Cave edition of Valley of the Many-Colored Grasses by Ronald Johnson

Lines of Poetry, Rows of Trees

Ronald Johnson’s Valley of the Many-Colored Grasses, newly re-issued, offers entry into the work of a pioneering master collagist.

Psychogeography is an environment’s impact on an individual’s behaviors or emotions—notwithstanding whether or how much that person is aware of such influence.

Walkers in the City—and Everywhere

Peppered moth (Biston betularia)

Humans As Drivers of Evolution

“Anthropogenic,” meaning of human causes, is generally used to refer to climate change. But it also covers the powerful evolutionary force that is humanity.
Digital generated image of organic structured infinity sign made out of transparent plastic and grass growing inside against black background.

Know This About Net Zero

The term "net zero" remains ill-defined among the public. So what is it? Why is it necessary, and how does it fall short of solving all our climate woes?
Sand dunes and ocean at Padre Island's North Beach, Texas

The Shifting Sands of Hurricane Resilience

Sand dunes act as shock absorbers during hurricanes, both when the storms hit and while reestablishing roots (literally) in the aftermath.