Dublin Castle, 1830

Weaponizing Homophobia in Ireland

One of the arguments of Irish nationalism was that English rule was morally corrupting. There was no better example of this than same-sex desire.
Distribution of coal to the poor at Christmas by the Parish Beadle, c. 1888

Banning Christmas Dinner

Poor laws passed in Great Britain in the 1830s reversed a centuries-old tradition to forbid workhouses from serving roast beef and plum pudding at Christmas.
Ulysses

Ulysses Obscenity Decision: Annotated

In December 1933, Judge John Woolsey issued what would become one of the best known legal decisions on obscenity in United States history.
Adoration of the Magi with Saint Anthony Abbot

What was the Star of Bethlehem?

Never stop looking at the skies in wonder.
A painting of the Henry Grace à Dieu, 1512

The Learning Labs of Sailing Ships

Taking a ship from Europe to the Americas in the early 1500s meant entering a world of cutting-edge applied technology and the mixing of social classes.
Tip-O-Tip

The Zulu Prince Scam

In the 1890s, self-proclaimed Zulu princes toured the United States, performing a con game on Americans eager to know Africa and Christianize its peoples.
Nordenfelt submarine of the Ottoman empire, probably Abdül Hamid (Nordenfelt II), c. 1886.

The Great Arms Bazaar of the Nineteenth Century

In the late nineteenth century, fed by the disintegration of the Ottoman empire, the European arms race created a global military surplus.
Aerial view of Darwin, Australia

Darwin Down Under

The largest town in Australia’s Northern Territory, Darwin offers beautiful beaches, historic seaside festivals, and some tough socioeconomic problems.
Fruitlands in 1915

The Alcott Anarchist Experiment

The failures at Fruitlands showed that anarchist and vegetarian ideals weren’t enough to sustain a community—spiritually or nutritionally.
The murder of August von Kotzebue

Assassination of A Playwright, Birth of A Nationalism

The 1819 assassination of playwright August von Kotzebue by theology student Karl Sand is considered one of foundational moments in German nationalism.