The Scholars Charting Black Music’s Timeline: Douglas Henry Daniels & Paul Austerlitz
Daniels and Austerlitz tell the story of jazz, from its origins in the blues, gospel, and funk to its impact on music around the world.
Editors’ Picks of 2022
Poetry, Polonius, and Prison: a collection of this year’s greatest hits from JSTOR Daily.
Mermaids: Myth, Kith and Kin
Ariel epitomizes mermaids now, but these beguiling creatures precede her by millennia, sparking imaginations the world over with a hearty embrace of otherness.
The Treaty of Ghent: Annotated
The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, an oft overlooked conflict that continues to shape the politics and culture(s) of North America.
Fighting for the Right to Party at Christmas
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Reformed Kirk of Scotland tried to shut down holiday celebrations. The Scottish people didn’t give up easily.
Music and Gender in Medieval Islamic Court
As Islam spread across the Arabian peninsula and the Mesopotamian region, it changed the relationship between gender and musicianship.
Who Was Jesus’s Grandma?
Canonical scripture never mentions the parents of the Virgin Mary, but the body of St. Anne was vital to Christianity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
The Birth of the Soviet Union and the Death of the Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution promised—and for a time delivered—freedom to the peoples of the Tsarist Empire. That freedom ended with the creation of the USSR.
How Muppets Add Meaning to a Mass Media Christmas
The Muppet Christmas Carol works hard to get people to engage with Charles Dickens, but its real success is becoming part of the holiday itself.
Mistletoe, Deep Talk, and Nuclear Fusion
Well-researched stories from The Verge, Knowable Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.