The rise of champagne as a distinctly French invention helped sow class differences in the region.

Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.

Translating "Merry Christmas" into Hawaiian offers insight into the language's modest inventory of consonants.

Shoddy came to have anti-Semitic overtones during the American Civil War.

The organization VIDA: Women in Literary Arts was launched in 2009 to document gender disparity in book reviews.

Materialism, by most measures, does not correlate to happiness.

Americans still purchase approximately 1.6 billion holiday cards a year. What about this old-fashioned tradition appeals to so many?

The composition of the Communist Party of China has evolved considerably since the party was founded in 1921.

Margaret Sanger's belief in eugenics stemmed from her interest in individual choice—an idea that brought birth control into the mainstream of American life.

The correlation between vocal talent and album sales is a telling indicator of what consumers want.