How Mentally Ill People Fight for Their Rights
In the 1970s, a time of mass deinstitutionalization, former patients came together to found the Psychiatric Inmates Liberation Movement.
Seeing America in 1900
Posters and postcards showcasing unique destinations and sights in the United States helped homogenize the tourist landscape of the early twentieth century.
Cloud Workers, Speculative Biology, and Navajo Archives
Well-researched stories from Aeon, Public Books, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Roger Ebert vs. Video Games
The film critic’s unconsidered observation about Doom touched off a firestorm that continues to burn for gamers and digital media critics.
Popularizing Meditation in the Mughal Empire
The methods of Sufi meditation were regarded as secret during the early Mughal empire. Why, then, did Dara Shikoh feel the need to write them down?
Sea Gardens, Gun Laws, and Secrets of Pollen
Well-researched stories from Quanta Magazine, Atlas Obscura, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Who Made That Word and Why?
No matter how many words in a language, it seems that we always need just one more to explain ourselves.
The Exotic “Pornography” of the Arabian Nights
The heated debates over Burton’s explicit translation of the beloved tales exposed Victorian England’s preoccupation with sex.
The Pro-Democratic Fourteenth Amendment
At the heart of recent US Supreme Court decisions, the Fourteenth Amendment was framed to require free speech and free elections in the South.
Space Images, Reproductive Justice, and Bird Evolution
Well-researched stories from Vox, Public Books, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.