How Reading Got Farm Women Through the Depression
They worked over sixty hours a week but were also insatiable readers.
Was Russia Destined to Be an Autocracy?
The most important factors that steered Russia away from democracy, says one scholar, weren't inevitable.
How to Memorialize a Plague
Vienna's baroque Plague Column, completed in 1693, gave thanks for the survival of a city.
Why Some Men Go to Salons for Haircuts
The difference between a clipper cut at the barber shop and "pampering" at the salon has roots in gender ideology and class structure.
Shayla Lawson: All of Us Came from the Same Root
The poet and essayist Shayla Lawson, author of This Is Major, talks about the meaning of race, Black History Month, and her love for Lizzo.
Rent Strikes Aren’t Just About Rent
A wave of rent strikes in the 1960s showed that poor residents of New York City had deep concerns about housing. The media, however, focused on big rats.
European Colonization and Epidemics Among Native Peoples
What you learned about the diseases that decimated Native communities is probably wrong.
The Manly Birdwatchers of Ontario
Finding a hobby that doesn't undermine your 19th-century masculinity can be tough.
How Jewish Immigrants Changed American Psychology
Secular Jewish psychologists like Boris Sidis criticized the positive optimism of Protestant-centered psychology.
The Defense of Ethiopia from Fascism
For black activists in the 1930s, defending Ethiopia from Mussolini’s invasion created unprecedented unity.