How Cold War “Orphans” Sang Their Way into American Hearts
Touring choirs helped cast Korean children as ideal adoptees—and Americans as benevolent saviors.
The Nineteenth-Century Science of Fashion
Victorian-era color theory moved from labs and studios into women’s magazines—and into everyday decisions about dress.
When Mao’s Mango Mania Took Over China
A fleeting cult built around a mango exposes the logic, and illogic, of Mao’s personality cult.
Celebrating Black History Month
JSTOR Daily editors pick their favorite stories for Black History Month.
H. H. Richardson and the Making of an American Romanesque
Historical photographs help trace the emergence of Richardsonian Romanesque and its lasting influence on American architecture.
The Congo Crisis and the Rise of a Pan-African Musical Politics
How Patrice Lumumba’s assassination reshaped Black internationalism—and pushed musicians toward a new kind of activism.
The Racial Myth of the Basque Sheepherder
How ideas of ancient tradition shaped labor and immigration in the American West.
A History of Existential Anxiety
From medieval theology to modern philosophy, dread has long been a guide for living ethically.
The Explorer Who Faked His Way Through the Hajj
Englishman Richard Burton wore several disguises, ranging from merchant to doctor to pilgrim in the holy city of Mecca.
The Medicinal Wood That Turned Water Blue
For nearly half a millennium, botanists sought the "true" identity of Lignum nephriticum, a mysterious marvel that confounded early modern science.