“The Yellow Wallpaper” and Women’s Pain
Charlotte Gilman wrote her famous short story in response to her own experience having her pain belittled and misunderstood by a male physician.
To Battle Floods, Cities Revive Their Long-Forgotten Alleyways
Once polluted and abandoned, back alleys have sprouted into flourishing rain gardens.
White House Leaks, Mafia Lemons, and Future Babies
Well-researched stories from GQ, NPR, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Women’s Rights in the Early Republic
The U.S.A.'s founders focused on the rights of white men to vote, own property, and govern. The idea that women should have similar rights came later.
The Bizarre Victorian Diaries of Cullwick and Munby
Arthur Munby was an upper-class man of letters who "collected" working class women, including his servant Hannah Cullwick, whom he married in 1873.
North Korea’s Anti-American Propaganda Improved Public Health
During the Korean War, North Korea suffered widespread epidemics of typhus and smallpox. The Communist party blamed US germ warfare.
The Real-Life Meg
One of the many misconceptions about the ancient megalodon is that it was an extinct, larger ancestor of the great white shark.
The Most Controversial Comic Strip
In the 1950s, Walt Kelly's comic strip about a cute opossum named Pogo was syndicated by over 450 newspapers. It was also frequently censored.
What’s the Definition of Health?
The WHO’s definition has been the target of criticism in the medical literature since its first appearance in 1948.
Why Victorian Gardeners Loathed Magenta
For decades, British and American gardeners avoided magenta flowers. The color had associations with the unnatural and the poisonous.