Our Long Relationship with Leather
A recently-discovered skeleton wearing leather boots inspires a walk through our history of wearing animal hides.
The World’s New Private Security Forces
The global private market for security has brought with it the need for hiring, measuring, and monitoring security workers in unprecedented ways.
How the Brownie Camera Made Everyone a Photographer
Eastman Kodak used folklore to sell a modern technology, and ended up creating new communities and forms of expressions along the way.
Why Champagne?
We use champagne to celebrate New Year's Eve and other major events. But how did the sparkling wine get such cultural cachet? (Hint: marketing helped.)
Down the Research Rat Hole
While writing her forthcoming book about Polynesia, the author discovered the work of Teuira Henry, a scholar and folklorist who studied ancient Tahiti.
Our Best Stories of 2018
Victorian librarians, Mister Rogers, queer time, and Jane Austen's subversive linguistics, oh my!
Breast Milk as Medicine
Human breast milk has been recommended as a cure-all since the 17th century.
The Landlord Asks for a Christmas Rose
Bizarre customs of landholding—from demands for flowers to ritualized flatulence—reflect the philosophy that developed under the feudal system.
Feasting Tips From Ancient Greece
Many of us strive to avoid talking politics at a big holiday feasts. But in Homer's Greece, feasting was all about politics.
Civil Rights and New Deal America, Bruno Latour, and Bad Environmentalism
New books and scholarship from University of North Carolina, Harvard University Press, and University of Minnesota Press.