When America Incarcerated “Promiscuous” Women
From WWI to the 1950s, the "American Plan" rounded up sexually-active women and quarantined them, supposedly to protect soldiers from venereal disease.
Marxferatu: Teaching Marx with Vampires
For a younger generation trying to understand Marxism, the best way in may be: vampirism.
When Mining Destroys Historical Cemeteries
Mountain top removal mining brings with it total ecosystem destruction. It also erases history by destroying historic mountain cemeteries.
William Gannaway Brownlow, the Fighting Parson of Tennessee
The controversial politician William Gannaway Brownlow shepherded Tennessee's re-admission to the Union. It was the first state of the Confederacy to do so.
Who Chooses Not to Vaccinate Their Children?
Vaccinations have always been political. But in this day and age, why do certain subsets of well-off parents choose not to vaccinate their children?
The Gender-Bending Style of Yankee Doodle’s Macaroni
The outlandish "macaroni" style of 18th-century England blurred the boundaries of gender, as well as class and nationality.
Krazy Kat’s Complex Relationship with Race
Behind the slapstick antics in this beloved comic strip simmered ambivalence about color and race.
The Lost Paradise of Los Angeles
Los Angeles's bountiful agricultural land was devoured by runaway suburbanization, a process which began long before the post-war era.
The First True Ornithologist
Though he was once dismissed as a dilettante, naturalist Francis Willughby was in fact part of the vanguard of observation-based modern science.
Reconsidering Appeasement
After 1938's Munich Agreement, "appeasement" became a dirty word in international relations. But scholars argue that appeasement can be a useful tool.