Venice’s Carnival, Brain Tech, and African Energy
Well-researched stories from Atlas Obscura, Yale Environment 360, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Even the Best Jim Crow School…Was Still a Jim Crow School
Before Brown v. Board of Education, Black activists split between integrationist and separatist factions, particularly at New Jersey’s Bordentown School.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
How Stovemakers Helped Invent Modern Marketing
Most people in the United States have a stove in their kitchen. But how did this “must-have” come to be?
An Overview d’état: Are Coups Democracy in Action?
Coups in autocracies are frequently followed by elections, which are then followed by new coup attempts. Why do elections increase coup risk?
Putting Gay Men Back Into History
In the late nineteenth century, historian John Addington Symonds fought back against his colleagues’ refusal to acknowledge historical same-sex relationships.
The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower
Now an icon of modernism and avant-garde design, the Eiffel Tower was once seen by Parisian writers and artists as a blight on the cityscape.
Should We Teach K-12 Students the History of King Cake?
King cake, eaten during Carnival season in New Orleans, is more than just a sugar-sprinkled treat. Should students learn about its connections to white supremacy?
Why is New Orleans a City of Parades?
New Orleans’ ethnic diversity and lack of public welfare programs contributed to a culture of mutual aid organizations—and huge, festive parades.
Plant of the Month: Frangipani
An ornamental plant whose white flowers hang over graveyards and temples in Southeast Asia presents complicated questions on national belonging and religious identity.