A History of Police Violence in Chicago
At the turn of the century, Chicago police killed 307 people, one in eighteen homicides in the city—three times the body count of local gangsters.
Seymour Hersh on the Future of American Journalism
Hersh talks about his career as an investigative reporter, the fate of online media, and feeble responses to Trump.
When Breastfeeding Was a Civic Duty
Think people are judgmental of mothers now? In the 18th- and 19th-centuries, mothers who bottle-fed their babies were blamed for many of society's ills.
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.
The Militant Miners Who Exposed the Horrors of Black Lung
This grassroots movement brought occupational health to American labor, paving the way for the creation of OSHA.
Puritan True Crime
Cotton Mather and other 17th-century American writers created a genre all their own: Puritan gallows literature, which both terrified and edified.
The Magazine That Put Children in Their Place
Children's literature hasn't always been about whimsy. This early magazine sought to retrench the elite in the publishing and education industries.
From the Belly of a Goat to the Mouth of a King
Bezoars, a strange lump formed in the belly of a goat, once were considered a panacea, and worth more than their weight in gold.
Punishing Forgery with Death
In early nineteenth-century England, forging currency was considered to be such a subversive threat that it was punished with the death penalty.