Plaque of Marbury v. Madison at SCOTUS Building

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.
A view of the New United States embassy in London, England. Circa 1950.

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 golden death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, 1950

The Pharaoh’s Curse or the Pharaoh’s Cure?

A toxic fungus from King Tutankhamun’s tomb yields cancer-fighting compounds.
Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ca. 1900-1915

Take Me Out to the Class Game: Social Stratification in the Stadium

The private boxes for the privileged few in today’s baseball stadiums are nothing new.
A painting of The Belgic, the ship on which Ella Sheldon wrote many of her diaries.

Lonely Diarist of the High Seas

As ship stewardess, Ella Sheldon tended to upper-crust women onboard and battled a range of workplace demons. Her journals tell her story.
Amazing Baby Beach and coast on Aruba, Caribbean, white beach with blue ocean tropical beach during summer

Aruba: Black Gold and Boas

What happens when an oil-rich island paradise interrupts its production of petroleum? You may have to visit the Caribbean island of Aruba to find out.
A caricature of the Berners Street Hoax by William Heath, 1810

Is “Swatting” Rooted in a Prank Craze from the 1800s?

Why did Georgian-era England go mad for dangerous hoaxes, and what can that mania tell us about today’s volatile, content-hungry world?
Cover of The Chinese question in Australia, 1878-79

The Chinese Question in Australia

The local British tried to bar Chinese traders from Australian shipping routes. Louis Ah Mouy, Lowe Kong Meng, and Cheong Cheok Hong had something to say about it.
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran sits and talks with American president John F. Kennedy, 1963

The Shah, Our Man in Tehran?

Playing up the threat of the communist incursions, the Shah of Iran gained more and more support—financial and political—from the United States.
From Missione in prattica. Padri cappuccini ne Regni di Congo, Angola et adiacenti

Kongo, Interpreted

In the sixteenth century, Kongo’s government trained young nobles to provide interpretation and cultural mediation between Europeans and Kongolese.