The Jim Crow Roots of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Relationship
Americans started pouring into Saudi Arabia in the 1940s to develop the oil fields. They brought their ideas about segregation with them.
The Race to Name New Species
Habitats are being destroyed so rapidly that species can go extinct before they are even named.
Burn This Book!
Li Zhi’s exasperation with the corruption, greed, and superficiality of the powerbrokers in his society fueled his rebellious writing.
T.S. Eliot
Remembering the famous modernist poet T.S. Eliot with his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
The Question of Race in Beowulf
J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal scholarship on Beowulf centers a white male gaze. Toni Morrison focused on Grendel and his mother as raced and marginal figures.
Selling Slashers to Teen Girls
The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.
Whistleblowing: A Primer
Are whistleblowers heroes or traitors? It depends who you ask.
Dead Birds, Data Mining, and Dark Matter
Well-researched stories from Public Books, Aeon, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Did Humans Once Live by Beer Alone? An Oktoberfest Tale
Some scholars have suggested that humans first started growing domesticated grains in order to make not bread, but beer.
Industrial London’s Maternal Child Abductors
In industrial-era England, children took on new value in family life. Around this time, they started to be stolen more often, too.