Music Only for a Woman: The Birth of Easy Listening
A 1970s radio format geared towards the "feminine psyche" featured musical rearrangements with softer and gentler styles of the day's hits.
Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s The Kim Sisters
The diversification of talent on American variety shows obscured the reality of race relations in the United States during the Cold War.
From Bond Maid to Pioneering Chinese Businesswoman
Raised as a servant girl, Lai Ngan grew up to become a cigar maker, own a boarding house, and run grocery stores in the American Southwest.
The Gruesome History of Ohio’s “Fingers in the Jar”
Three of Mary Bach’s fingers, hacked off by her murderous husband in 1881, were displayed in a jar for more than a century in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Racist Humor: Exploratory Readings
An introduction to the history and theory of racist humor and the social role it plays in Western societies.
Cape Town, South Africa
Although the apartheid era continues to cast its shadow on Cape Town, many of its neighborhoods have been enjoying a renaissance as tourist destinations.
The Rise of the LA Suburb in 1960s TV
The shift from city centers to suburbs was reflected in post-World War II television programming.
We Might Have Accidentally Killed the Only Life We Ever Found on Mars Nearly 50 Years Ago
In one experiment, the Viking landers added water to Martian soil samples. That might have been a very bad idea.
Visiting Christ’s Prison Cell
After Christian crusaders captured Jerusalem, the Prison of Christ featured on pilgrims' itineraries. But was Christ actually ever imprisoned there?
The Spy Who Shared My Foyer
Luminaries from Agatha Christie to Walter Gropius gravitated to London’s “Lawn Road Flats.” So too did a far less conspicuous cohort: assets for the USSR.