Tantalus

Tantalus, Pac-Man, and Unsated Hungers

What does a violent, ancient Greek myth reveal about our modern addiction to technology and the enduring power of stories?
Leslie F. Stone

Pulp Woman: Leslie F. Stone

Cloaked in an ambiguous pseudonym, Stone was one of the first women to write science fiction for the pulps.
Two dogs at an alpine lake

Dogs, Kings, and David Lynch

Well-researched stories from Slate, Black Perspectives, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
A photograph of Peter Kropotkin by Nadar

Peter Kropotkin, the Prince of Mutual Aid

Let’s take a closer look at the Russian aristocrat turned anarchist who (literally) wrote the book on mutual aid.
Prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn as she appears in Swan Lake, 1951

Odette vs. Odile: A Tale of Two (but Not Opposing) Swans

The distinction between the leading female characters of Swan Lake—the swan princess and her “black” counterpart—initially wasn’t so sharp.
The cover of The Marking of the English Working Class by EP Thompson

E. P. Thompson and the American Working Class

Published in 1963, Thompson’s influential The Making of the English Working Class quickly led to questions about the nature of the American working class.
View in the Susquehanna Valley by Charles Wilson Knapp

The Mysterious Madame Montour

Montour presented herself as a cultural intermediary between Native Americans and whites in colonial America. But who was she?
JSTOR Daily celebrates Black History Month

Celebrating Black History Month

JSTOR Daily editors pick their favorite stories for Black History Month.
George Polk, c. 1943

The Murder Behind the George Polk Awards for Journalism

The murder of American journalist George Polk in Greece remains unsolved more than seventy-five years later.
Fisherman on the bank of a river, Ancient Greece.

Fish Addiction: An Ancient Greek Paranoia

An obsession with eating fish mapped onto all sorts of social anxieties, from gluttony and gambling problems to wasteful spending and licentiousness.