Activists during the Solidarity Day march in protest at President Reagan's economic and social policies in Washington DC, 1981.

Moral Economy and the Causes of Wage Inequality

How important are labor unions for combating wage inequality in the United States?
Photo of Generic Punk Concert, 1970s

Punks vs. Cowboys in Reagan Country 

A bastion of both the Old and New Right, Orange County in the late 1970s seems an unlikely place for punk rockers.
Source: https://archive.org/details/argentoratentiislapponia01scheffer/page/n323/mode/2up

Colonialism, Resistance, and Liquor

For both the Shawnee of North America and the Sámi of northern Europe, alcohol provided by colonizing powers was a symbolic and practical political issue.
Employees of Ottenheimer on strike for poor treatment

Labor Day: A Celebration of Working in America

Our best stories about workers' rights, labor unions, and international movements to improve working conditions, from the factory to the farm.
Madonna of the Magnificat by Sandro Botticelli

The Pomegranate in History and Myth

Used heavily in early medicine and at times for opposing aims, the pomegranate shows a marked versatility in its cultural connotations and connections.
The only surviving image that may depict Anne Hathaway, made by Sir Nathaniel Curzon in 1708.

Anne Shakespeare: Toward a Biography

Let’s check in with Anne Shakespeare, née Hathaway, about whom so little is known.
Saint Stephen and Saint Christopher

Christopher, the Dog-Headed Saint

Although the tradition has largely faded in the Western church, Saint Christopher sported a canine head through much of Christian history.
Atlantic Salmon

Taking “Stock” of Salmon and Word Choice

The long debate over spawning habits and genetics belies the problems caused by categorizing fish with a term associated with finance and breeding.
An acrobatic water skier performs during a show at Cypress Gardens theme park in 1953 near Winterhaven, Florida.

The Wonderful World of the Water Ski

Invented in 1922, water-skiing quickly became shorthand for American ideas on beauty, athleticism, and affluence.
Wall Street during the bank panic in October 1907

Mexico, 1910: An Influential Sneeze or a Home-Grown Revolution?

Historians are rethinking the claim that the Panic of 1907 in the United States helped spark the Mexican Revolution.