Oscar Wilde’s Pamphlet: “Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life”
Wilde's description is heart-wrenching, but that doesn't hold him back from the usual wit and drama that characterize his writing.
The Columbian Exchange Should Be Called The Columbian Extraction
Europeans were eager to absorb the starches and flavors pioneered by the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
Che Guevara
In 1964, 5 years after the end of the Cuban revolution, Che Guevara wrote for an academic journal. Read the Cuban leader in his own words.
Why Did Nixon Burn the China Hands?
Nixon targeted Foreign Service officers who served in China in the 1940s as communist sympathizers and "fellow travelers." Then he opened trade relations.
Why the Dakota Only Traded among People with Kinship Bonds
“Trapping was not a ‘business for profit’ among the Dakota but primarily a social exchange,” one scholar writes.
When Botany Was for Ladies
In nineteenth century America, young women took to studying botany—a conjoining of interest, social acceptance, and readily available schooling.
How the Ban on Medical Advertising Hurt Women Doctors
Intended to protect consumers from unscrupulous quackery, a nineteenth-century ban on medical advertising proved to be a double-edged sword.
Hong Kong Was Formed as a City of Refugees
The story of Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, can't be separated from its international situation.
Can American Expansion Continue Indefinitely?
Or will continued abundance require serious changes in consumer behavior?
The Jim Crow Roots of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Relationship
Americans started pouring into Saudi Arabia in the 1940s to develop the oil fields. They brought their ideas about segregation with them.