The Enduring Drive-In Theater
Even as televisions spread across the American landscape, the drive-in movie theater grew in popularity in the years following World War II.
Geishas for Enlightened Motherhood
In the Meiji period, geisha embraced the nation’s modernizing project, helping to improve education for women and promoting a western-style domestic ideal.
Abraham Lincoln’s Labor Theory of Value
Abraham Lincoln was no Marxist, but his ideas about the relationship of labor and capital mirrored Marx’s in some ways—albeit with a rural American flavor.
Brunei: A Tale of Soil and Oil
With an economy based almost exclusively on the oil industry, Brunei offers its citizens a high standard of living—but it comes with limitations.
Designing the Dummies
The science behind using crash test dummies to determine the effects of car crashes on the human body only dates to the 1960s.
Going Postal at the Qiaopiju
The Chinese Qiaopiju, or “overseas letter offices,” lasted for a century, ending only when the foreign governments implemented anti-communist banking controls.
How Do You Like Your Steak? Rare, Medium, or Bright Blue?
In 1973, an experiment with dyed food and colorful lights had participants vomiting up their half-finished meals. But did it really happen?
Attacking Italians in Louisiana
Italian immigrants had no qualms about working and living alongside Black Americans, which made them targets for violence by white vigilantes in Louisiana.
Battery X: A Secret Test of Women at War during WWII
Although their contributions have been largely forgotten, women played an active role in Washington DC’s air defense system during World War II.
Lai Teck, International Man of Mystery
A Vietnamese double agent who infiltrated and led the Communist Party of Malaya in the 1930s, Lai Teck also spied for the British and the Japanese.