She started off as a "stunt" journalist and moved into covering stories about women and crime in the Roaring Twenties.

National origin stories can be the stuff of fancy. Francoist Spain also showed how quickly those stories could be rewritten.

Archaeologists used to dig primarily at sites that were easy to find thanks to obvious visual clues. But technology—and listening to local people—plays a bigger role now.

In 1906, physician Richard Strong's already-unethical vaccine experiment went horribly wrong. Then it was swept under the rug.

The first edition of the beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured "pygmy" characters taken from Africa.

In the late nineteenth century, bachelor Santa got married. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Claus contributed uncompensated labor to the Claus household.

Well-researched stories from Sapiens, Public Books, and other publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Splurges for that scholarly curmudgeon in your life who has a critique of capitalism but still likes to have nice things.

What was it like for Black American music lovers during the age of segregation to find a place they could call their own?

Philosopher John Gray on why he is critical of prevailing ideas of progress, his friendship with Isaiah Berlin, and the wisdom of cats.