A photograph by Hugo Benioff of the fault scarp near Fairview Peak, Nevada resulting from a December 16, 1954 earthquake.

What Does an Earthquake Sound Like?

Seismologist Hugo Benioff spent decades turning seismic vibrations into signals he could study—and, eventually, hear.
Choice, pathway selection dilemma concept.

Teaching Students to Follow an Idea

A five-step classroom exercise reframes research as an evolving scholarly conversation rather than a search for sources.
Low counter circulation desk with three women.

Building a Library in Wartime Paris

Photos from the American Library in Paris reveal how librarians brought books to US troops during World War I.
A portrait of a Japanese soldier by Baron Raimund von Stillfried, 1881

Why Italian Fascists Loved Samurai

Japan offered Italian Fascists a powerful example of how ancient traditions could serve modern nationalism.
The Romans Cause a Wall to Be Built for the Protection of the South by William Bell Scott

Ancient Rome’s Complicated Border

What did Hadrian’s Wall actually do? Its history challenges the idea that walls simply separate one side from another.
Young woman reading a book in the twilight, 1890s

The Women Who Sold Books Door to Door

Three nineteenth-century memoirs reveal the risks and rewards of life on the road as a traveling bookseller.
From left to right: Frederick Barthelme, Mary Robison, Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Ann Beattie

Minimalist Fiction in Six Short Stories

The art of saying more with less, by Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Frederick Barthelme, Jayne Anne Phillips, Mary Robison, and Ann Beattie.
The Great Railway Disaster between Paris and Versailles, 1842

How the Railways Killed a Medieval Law

Deodands put a price on objects that caused death, sometimes providing compensation to bereaved families.
A record from Ros Serey Sothea

How Cambodian Pop Music Survived the Khmer Rouge

After genocide decimated the country’s musicians, old recordings helped a new generation reconnect with Cambodia’s musical past.
Women crack coal wearing goggles, using their bare hands and tiny hammers in the damp darkness of a tunnel in a mine.

The Women Written Out of Mining History

Women have mined for centuries, but laws barring them from the industry helped cement the idea that mining was men’s work.