A gun partially hidden by a pillow

Firearms and Family Violence

The intersection of intimate partner violence and firearms is extremely dangerous for American women.
The first meeting between Montezuma II and Hernando Cortez in Mexico City, 1519

Was the Story of Cortés Plagiarized from Arabic?

The mythic stories of the Spanish conquest of Mexico seem to have been largely taken from earlier tales of the Muslim conquest of southern Spain.
Flying Horse Of Gansu. Eastern Han dynasty, 25 - 220 AD.

The Supernatural Horses That Fascinated Chinese Emperors

In the second century BCE, Han Dynasty Emperor Wu so desired a herd of “blood-sweating” horses from Central Asia that he was willing to wage war over them.
Site of the September 17, 1963 bus and freight train collision near Chualar, California, which killed 32 Mexican migrant farmworkers

The Tragedy that Transformed the Chicano Movement

In 1963, more than thirty Mexican guest workers died in a terrible accident in California. The fallout helped turn farmworkers’ rights into a national cause.
Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House in Washington, D.C., delivering a national radio address, 1934

Amplifying Emotion: Radio and Interwar Political Speech

As radio matured in the twentieth century, politicians harnessed the technology in different ways to break down barriers between them and the public.
Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Tampa Florida, 2011

Reasons for Re-Enacting at the Renaissance Faire

Why do we love donning period costumes and re-enacting our history through mock battles, pioneer villages, and Renaissance Faires?
Saint Jean de Brebeuf Confronts the Huron Indian Council

Making Scents of Jesuit Missionary Work

The use of sensory stimulants like incense gave Jesuits a common framework with the North American nations they encountered on missionary trips.
A postcard for Wilshire Blvd, ca. 1930-1945

Gaylord Wilshire’s Boulevard of Marxist Dreams

One of the first American socialists to run for office, Wilshire was born rich and got richer before losing it all by self-publishing a socialist magazine.
IBM Model 72 Kana Selectric Typewriter

How IBM Took Europe

After World War II, IBM worked to influence the new balance of power by locating facilities for the production of its electric typewriter across Europe.
Cahokia

How Native Americans Guarded Their Societies Against Tyranny

Many Native American communities were consensus democracies that survived for generations because of careful attention to checking and balancing power.