The Long Shadow of Adelbert von Chamisso
An exiled French aristocrat who wrote in German and explored California in the name of Russia, von Chassimo inspired Marx, Offenbach, and even Wilde.
Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation
"Except as punishment for a crime," reads the constitutional exception to abolition. In prison plantations across the United States, slavery thrives.
Indigenous Kings in Londontown
In 1710, Queen Anne of England feted four Native American dignitaries—would-be political allies. Their presence at a performance of Macbeth caused a stir.
What Skulls Told Us
The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.
Identity and Violence in Manipur, India
A history of political and economic mismanagement, paired with armed militancy based in ethnic identity, helps explain the protracted violence in the region.
Class and Superstition in Britain
Believing in ghosts wasn’t a class marker until the 1820s, when suddenly the educated classes tried to convince the masses that these apparitions were delusions.
Boom, Bust, and the “World’s Littlest Skyscraper”
The discovery of oil near Wichita Falls in 1911 not only brought money to the Texas town, it brought a swindler who promised the sky(scraper).
Sex and the Single Witch
On witch-hunting and the pursuit of sexual knowledge in early-modern England.