A "Gremlin" decorates a B-1B aircraft of the 28th Bombardment Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, 1988

Ghosts in the Machine

Forty years ago, Hollywood made gremlins loveable—portraying them as adorable, furry creatures. Their folkloric origins are far more sinister.
From “Stage-Land: Curious Habits and Customs of its Inhabitants” described by Jerome K Jerome with drawings by J Bernard Partridge. Published by Chatto & Windus, London, in 1890. The book is an entertaining account of the types of characters to be found upon the theatre stage and this shifty-looking individual is the ‘stage villain’. Of course, you would know that from his immaculate appearance and the fact that he is always smoking a cigarette. Things which would never happen in real life, naturally. And he does have a distressing tendency to get knocked down by the hero fairly regularly. Sad, really.

How to Be a British Villain

In classic British detective stories, villains might be atavistic monsters, foreign menaces, or conniving professionals—all tied to aristocrats’ anxieties.
Air Force Chief of Staff General David C. Jones briefs the National Security Council on possible military options during the second meeting on the Mayaguez crisis, 1975

The Mayaguez Incident: The Last Chapter of the Vietnam War

Reeling from defeat in Vietnam, the US invaded a Cambodian island to rescue a US freighter—just before its crew members, who were elsewhere, were released.
A white lab mouse on a white background

Autism Research, Dungan Food, and Forest Histories

Well-researched stories from Black Perspectives, Mongabay, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
freelance working at train station before travel. work and travel concept

All Travelers are Infiltrators: An Introduction to the Study of Travel Writing

Travel writing as a genre has arguably been around for centuries, but it didn’t emerge as a distinct field of academic study until the 1980s.
A map of the stars by John Flamsteed, 1776

Spider in the Telescope: The Mechanization of Astronomy

John Flamsteed’s vision of an astronomer's skill set clashed with existing ideas about observing, paving the way for a new mindset based on mechanical objectivity.
Eva Bouchard's house in Péribonka

Quebec, Louis Hémon, and Maria Chapdelaine

Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapledaine grew from his views as a French immigrant writer on the rural life of early twentieth-century Quebec.
A group of children, among them are some dressed in Highland regalia with others wearing sailor suits, during League of Nations Rally in Hyde Park London, England, June 1921. The children, all of Hampstead, hold small signs reading 'Peace' and 'No War' and are gathered before a large banner reading 'We Revel in Peace'.

Teaching Peace Between the Wars

In the years between the world wars, the League of Nations attempted to change how history was taught to emphasize commonalities across national lines.
Beale Street, Memphis

Memphis: The Roots of Rock in the Land of the Mississippians

Rising on the lands of an ancient agricultural system, Memphis has a long history of negotiating social conflict and change while singing the blues.
ACM Lifting Lives Music Camper sings to and with Recording Artist Wynonna Judd as part of ACM Lifting Lives Music Camp Karaoke with WYNONNA JUDD at Winner's Bar on June 28, 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Carry On, Karaoke

Karaoke became a global phenomenon after its invention in the 1970s, the wide embrace of it exemplifying transnational flows and hybridization.