A mother holding her newborn in a birthing tub after her home water birth.

From Home Births to Maternity Wards and Back Again

Once hospital deliveries became mainstream, mothers have had to make a choice: a home birth or go to the hospital? 
Island of the Blue Dolphins written by Scott O'Dell.

Stranded on the Island of the Blue Dolphins: The True Story of Juana Maria

Juana Maria, the lost woman of San Nicolas island, is as famous for her namelessness as for the lonely adventure she endured.
A mother breastfeeding her child.

The Cultural Expectations of Breastfeeding

Society constructs women’s bodies as sexual, but mothers’ bodies as asexual—a quandary that presents a dilemma for women who nurse in public.
A concept illustration of three aligned planets

There May Be a Ninth Planet (And It’s Not Pluto)

Caltech astronomer Michael Brown has proposed the existence of a ninth planet, the existence of which would explain the strange orbits of six KBOs. 
Blackfish. G. H. Nickerson, Provincetown, Cape Cod Views.

Why Don’t Americans Eat Whale?

Whales have been used for everything but meat in this country. Why is that?
1776 Lottery ticket issued by Continental Congress to finance American Revolutionary War.

Jackpot: For Colonial Slaves, Playing the Lottery Was a Chance at Freedom

Complaints that the lottery is a regressive tax on the poor have been around since the beginning of the lottery in America.
Mattel's new line of Barbie dolls. Photo courtesy of Mattel

Representative Barbies

A weekly deep dive into the scholarship around a current news story. This week: Barbie.
Extra Credit Suggested Readings from JSTOR Daily Editors

Suggested Readings: Free trade, Peer Review, and Bloodletting

Extra Credit: Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. ...
A sleeping car porter employed by the Pullman Company at Union Station in Chicago, Illinois.

The Historic Achievement of the Pullman Porter’s Union

The achievements of the Pullman Porter's Union were a significant civil rights victory for both U.S. labor and the civil liberties of African-Americans. 
Samuel Smiles by Sir George Reid, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Before KonMari and NotSorry, There Was the Samuel Smiles’ Guide to Self Help

Samuel Smiles' 1859 book, Self Help, offered a groundbreaking approach to self improvement.