Little Women

Did Victorians Really Get Brain Fever?

The melodramatic descriptions of "fevers" in old novels reveal just how frightening the time before modern medicine must have been.
Illustration of Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O’Connor’s Moments of Grace

Flannery O'Connor employed grotesqueness and violence in her stories to illustrate the workings of grace on her characters.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

Kathleen Rooney’s Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Move over flâneur, here comes the flâneuse, the female version of the famous French walkers.
Houdini poster

The Man Who Pulled the First Houdini

Harry Houdini wasn't always famous for his daring escapes. A look at how the humble Hungarian immigrant became the world's most famous magician.
Dallas JR

Did the Internet Kill the TV Cliffhanger?

The internet may have changed the concept of the television cliffhanger, but is it possible that knowing the ending of something increases our enjoyment?
drive-in theater

Why Drive-Ins Were More Than Movie Theaters

Drive-ins embodied the suburbanization of middle class families -- and created an entirely new way of watching the movies.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

A New Novel Explores Art Theft, History, and Child Refugees

Ellen Umansky's novel The Fortunate Ones explores the psychological fallout of the World War II Kindertransport, which moved child refugees to England.
German dissidents Friedrich and Pauline Kellner's 1935 passport photos

Papers, Please: The Invention of the Passport

Immigration and national security remain at the top of President Trump’s agenda. He issued a revised executive order ...
Liquid Traces still

Migrant Rights in the Age of Surveillance

Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani use digital technology and human testimonials to visualize human rights violations and to fight for migrant rights.
talk therapy

When Language Can Cure What Ails You

Healthy talk is often promoted as the way for us to become even better humans. But is talking about our health always a key to actual better health?