Soldiers fighting in the Battle of Bennington during the American War of Independence

Revolutionary Atrocity

For the Americans, narratives about the savagery of the British became an important part of nation-building and a moral justification for armed rebellion.
Wat Thai in Los Angeles, 2008

Thai American Life in Los Angeles

Or, what the Wat Thai temple tussle in the San Fernando Valley teaches us about public space in America.

The Blu’s Hanging Controversy

Some have argued that the 1997 novel Blu's Hanging perpetuates East Asian racism against Filipinos while undermining criticism through violent sexuality.
Crystal Eastman

“Now We Can Begin”: Annotated

To mark the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, activist Crystal Eastman described the path to full freedom for American women.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Game, Saw, Conquered: Nationalism in Indonesian Video Games

Whether in cutscenes or gameplay, multi-player video games can help rewrite history or encourage an investment in national sovereignty.
Rural broadband illustration

Public Media and the Infrastructure of Democracy

Federal support for broadband expansion reflects the understanding that communication is as vital as roadways to the republic.
Buffalo Bill's wild West and congress of rough riders of the world

The Triumphalism of American Wild West Shows

From the 1880s to the 1930s, hundreds of Wild West shows encouraged white audiences to view Native American culture as a rapidly vanishing curiosity.
A pork-butcher's shop

Meat and the Free Market

Significant political changes in three major global cities fueled experimentation with laissez-faire economics, which had peculiar effects on the meat market.
Elizabeth Kapuʻuwailani Lindsey with her mentor, navigator-priest Pius "Mau" Piailug. Photo by Nick Kato

Pius “Mau” Piailug: Master Navigator of Micronesia

Mau used traditional skills to guide a canoe from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti, sharing his navigational knowledge with others to keep the wayfinding traditions alive.