Lyman Stewart: Fundamentalist and Oligarch
American oilman Lyman Stewart embodied the uniquely American paradoxes of what would become capitalist Christian fundamentalism and the prosperity gospel.
The Invention of Incarceration
Prisons have been controversial since their beginnings in the late 1700s — why do they keep failing to live up to expectations?
Making Climate Communication Nature-Driven
How climate change is represented in popular media allows us to avoid the complex, interconnected roles humans have played to create it.
St. Patrick’s Day in Prison
Offhand references to St. Patrick’s Day showcase broader humor, humanity, and history in the American Prison Newspapers collection.
Mass Incarceration: A Syllabus
This selection of stories focuses on prison and mass incarceration in the US, which has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world.
Why Aren’t There More Dogs at the Doctor’s Office?
Dogs can use their superb sense of smell to identify disease in human patients. What’s keeping them from using this ability in the healthcare industry?
Using Thoreau’s Notebooks to Understand Climate Change
Thoreau's time at Walden Pond has provided substantial data for scientists monitoring the effects of a warming climate on the area's plant life.
Behind Bars: The Invention of Mass Incarceration
Join us Wednesday, March 23, for a free online event. Editor Morgan Godvin in conversation with penal historian Ashley Rubin.
Cloud Seeding, Fake Fact-Checks, and Angela Davis at 78
Well-researched stories from Pro Publica, Smithsonian, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Beware the Ides of March. (But Why?)
Everybody remembers that the Ides of March was the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. But what does it mean, and why that day?