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

During WWII, 150,000+ people sought shelter in London's Tube stations each night. Over time, the various stations developed their own mini-governments.

It's conventional wisdom that procreation between first cousins is unhealthy. But what are the actual genetic risks?

The idea that the disparate nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea represent a single region is the product of the nineteenth century.

Makeup was associated with prostitution and vice until the early 20th century, when movie actresses's cosmetics testimonials reached everyday women.

According to one scholar, the 1917 deportation in Bisbee, AZ wasn't "about labor relations or race or gender: it was about all of them."

The medieval tradition of deciding legal cases by appointing champions to fight to the death endured through 1817, unlike its tastier cousin.

Dinosaur bones on display at the American Museum of Natural History always balanced conveying objective truth with promoting science to the public.

What has made this slow, quiet television show about antiques the sleeper hit of PBS? One scholar describes the show as enacting near-religious rituals.

Yes, you read that right.