Transplanting Nutmeg
Nutmeg originated in the Maluku islands of what’s now Indonesia, but Barbados became known as the Nutmeg Island. Why did the tree wander?
Eswatini: At the King’s Pleasure
Wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, Eswatini is the last absolute monarchy in Africa.
Dates: Civilization’s Sweetest Indulgence
Offshoots from the “Tree of Life” traveled from Mesopotamia to the Levant to the United States, beguiling everyone with their toothsome confections.
Mendez v. Westminster and Mexican American Desegregation
International relations and foreign influence helped end legal segregation of Mexican American students in California after World War II.
Convincing Peasants to Fly in the Soviet Union
With air-minded films, poems, and demonstrations, Soviet leaders sought to lift peasants out of their “backward” lives and into the world of the modern proletariat.
Actual American Rattlesnakes
Historians are recovering the overlooked history of North America’s Crotalus horridus, the timber rattlesnake.
Why Did Truman Support Civil Rights?
Truman’s domestic agenda attempted to solve the problem of Black American oppression while undermining the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Marbury v. Madison: Annotated
Justice John Marshall’s ruling on Marbury v. Madison gave the courts the right to declare acts and laws of the legislative and executive branches unconstitutional.
Whatever Happened to London’s “Little America”?
Since the time of John Adams, the first US Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Grosvenor Square has been the locus of the American government in Britain.
The Pharaoh’s Curse or the Pharaoh’s Cure?
A toxic fungus from King Tutankhamun’s tomb yields cancer-fighting compounds.