Where Sunday School Comes From
Sunday school was just one part of nineteenth century reformers’ efforts to improve children’s lives and morals in this period. But the mission of Sunday schools changed significantly over the years.
Most Recent Articles
Synesthesia for Beginners
Synesthesia—a mixing and merging of the senses—is surprisingly common. Studies of the phenomenon can help explain how the brain and sensory system work.
Michelle Dean: A Sharp Look at Criticism by Women
Dean on the obstacles women face in being taken seriously as intellectuals, feminist infighting, and the importance of being an outsider.
Great Scientific Discoveries That Weren’t
Dinosaur DNA! Life on Mars! In the world of science, amazing discoveries don’t quite work out the way the discoverer hopes they will.
Boycotting Captain Boycott
There were boycotts before the word was coined in the 1880s, but ever since then they’ve always been called after the experience of Captain Charles Boycott.
The Political Provocations of Asexuality
As more people begin to identify themselves as asexual, their presence is revealing the limits to certain kinds of feminist politics.
She Gave Birth to Rabbits! (and Other Tales of Sooterkin)
Fancies breed strange children.
Long Reads
George Washington’s “Yelp Reviews”
Staying at inns allowed Washington to examine the state of the infrastructure for traveling in the new federal Republic. The only problem was, he hated it.
The Restoration’s Filthiest Poet (and Why We Need Him)
Creature of the court, royalist and fop, dandy and dilettante, John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, knew how to scandalize with verse.
What, Prithee, Is a Poetess?
The loss and recovery of a poetic genre shows how the canon of literary history treats women writers the moment they start to gain attention and approval.
Column: Lingua Obscura
Revisiting the Messy Language of the Second Amendment
The debate over the Second Amendment is not just about guns—it’s also about grammar.
The Murky Linguistics of Consent
In many #MeToo stories, crucial signals, verbal and non-verbal cues, are sent but not received. Why is that?
Small Poppy Syndrome: Why are Australians so Obsessed With Nicknaming Things?
What’s behind the Australian habit of nicknaming and abbreviating everything? Nicknames may just reveal how Australians see themselves and relate to each other.
Column: The Digital Voyage
What Congress Should Know About the Internet
Facebook’s privacy and ad preferences settings are a privacy placebo: they trick us into feeling a little better, but they don’t treat the underlying disease.
Why Deleting Facebook isn’t the Answer to Data-Driven Targeting
We have to become smarter news and advertising consumers, and learn to resist the unceasing stream of slanted messages that come our way.
To Save Congress, Restore Local News
Since Donald Trump was elected, national news stories dominate our attention and our social media feeds—at the expense of local news.
COLUMN: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
She Gave Birth to Rabbits! (and Other Tales of Sooterkin)
Fancies breed strange children.
The French King Who Believed He Was Made of Glass
King Charles VI of France was the most exalted representative of a rash of “Glass Men,” who appeared throughout Europe between the 15th and 17th centuries.
The Ultimate Bespoke Manuscript
In The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan, sections of text stack on top of one another, interlaced like fretwork. Bursts of flowers and tangles of vines fill the empty spaces.
