Elvis and American Karate
Presley’s embrace of martial arts resonated with working- and middle-class Americans who felt alienated from the US justice system.
Inventing the Beach Read
Feeling guilty about kicking back with a paperback during vacation? There’s a precedent for escapist holiday reading, particularly during times of anxiety.
Amazon Rivers, Globalizing Chickens, Non-Alignment
Well-researched stories from Science, Quanta Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Can a Woman Be a Genius?
Many Edwardian progressives and utopians put their hopes in the exceptional individual who was able to overcome obstacles with a force of will.
The Unbearable Middle Passage
In the eighteenth century, doctors recognized melancholy as a disease endemic to groups forcibly displaced from their homes, particularly enslaved Africans.
How Street Dogs Spend their Days
Generally lazy, often friendly, the dogs of India know how to relax.
Carbon Offsets for the Hadza People, Swedish Meals, and Freedom in Taoism
Well-researched stories from Vox, Aeon, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Paying Moms to Breastfeed in Medieval Europe
The idea of offering remuneration to women for breastfeeding—even their own children—wasn’t unusual in late medieval and early modern Europe.
How We All Got in Debt
Consumer debt shapes American lives so thoroughly that it seems eternal and immortal, but it’s actually relatively new to the financial world.
Mongol Women, Mass Shootings, and Playful Rats
Well-researched stories from Atlas Obscura, Pysche, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.