Why Did the Victorians Harbor Warm Feelings for Leeches?
Medical authorities wrote about leeches as if they sucked blood out of the goodness of their hearts.
How Florida Got Its Name
506 years ago, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed in what he christened "Florida." Historians still wonder where the name came from.
A Horse’s-Eye View of the Civil War
Horses and mules played a major role in the American Civil War. In the end, there were about twice as many dead equines as humans.
When Cemeteries Became Natural Sanctuaries
In the 19th century, bucolic, park-like cemeteries started cropping up on the outskirts of American cities.
How the Bay of Pigs Invasion Changed JFK
The disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, early in John F. Kennedy's presidency, led him to reconfigure his foreign policy decision-making process.
Richard Wright Helped Bring Mental Healthcare to Harlem
The famous novelist worked to fight the psychological cost of black oppression.
Do the French Just Like Protesting?
France's Yellow Vests have been protesting for months on end. Such protests are an integral part of France's culture.
The Bluestockings
Meet the original Bluestockings, a group of women intellectuals. Their name would eventually become a misogynist epithet -- but it didn't start that way.
Defying the Gender Binary in the 1930s
In the 1930s, experimental psychologist Agnes Landis interviewed women who identified as "tomboys."
How American Soldier Jessica Lynch Became a Symbol
Jessica Lynch was the first woman American POW to be successfully rescued. She became symbolic in ways that had little to do with the facts of her story.