Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub
Contrary to popular misconceptions, Europeans in the Middle Ages took pains to keep themselves clean.
Translating Corn
To most of the world, “corn” is “maize,” a word that comes from the Taíno mahizwas. Not for British colonists in North America, though.
The High-Flying Life of Mary Riddle
One of the first Native American women aviators, Riddle leaned into stereotypes to earn a name for herself in the male-dominated world of American aviation.
Dervla Murphy: The Godmother of Hitting the Road
Perhaps the greatest female travel writer of her generation, Murphy defied the narrative of the dutiful Irish daughter—and motherhood—to find freedom.
When Family Separation Became a Human Rights Issue
In the aftermath of World War II, preserving the nuclear family became a key pillar of liberal democratic ideology.
The US Propaganda Machine of World War I
As the United States prepared to enter World War I, the government created the first modern state propaganda office, the Committee on Public Information.
The Three Cs of Bucharest
Three big Cs dominate the history of Romania and its capital city, Bucharest. You may know communism and Ceaușescu, but what about Cuza?
The Unusual, Unexpected Erechtheion
The Parthenon embodies the ideals of perfection Classical Greeks sought from architecture. The neighboring Erechtheion offers something else.
Burke and Hare…and Knox
Burke and Hare infamously killed people to meet the demand for bodies in Edinburgh’s anatomy schools in 1828. But who remembers the man for whom they worked?
What Are Colonies For? France and Algeria, 1848
Algeria was a safety valve for the Second Republic: a place to funnel the militant working class to subdue them as colonists and farmers.