Chien-Shiung Wu, the First Lady of Physics
Chien-Shiung Wu disproved a fundamental law of physics—a stunning achievement that helped earn her male colleagues (but not her) a Nobel Prize.
Settlements and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Background Reading
Scholarship about Israeli settlement in occupied Palestinian territories provides historical context for recent violence in the region.
Sergei Eisenstein and the Haitian Revolution
Why was the legendary Soviet filmmaker rebuffed in his vision of putting history's most consequential slave revolt on screen?
How a Forbidden Russian Epic Finally Got Published
Soviet dissident Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate was "arrested" by the KGB in 1961. Here's how it finally saw the light of day.
How American Girl Scouts Shocked Mexico in the 1950s
At a retreat center called Our Cabaña, girls from all over the world became Cold War–era diplomats. American scouts had additional ideas.
Muhammad Speaks for Freedom, Justice, and Equality
The official newspaper of the Nation of Islam—published from 1960-1975—combined investigative journalism and Black Nationalist views on racial uplift.
The Feminist History of “Child Allowances”
The Biden administration’s proposed “child allowances” draw on the feminist thought of Crystal Eastman, who advocated “motherhood endowments” 100 years ago.
The Origins of the Mug Shot
US police departments began taking photographs of people they arrested in the 1850s.
Can Thucydides Teach Us Why We Go to War?
A contemporary scholar uses the ancient Greek historian to explain the 1968 Pueblo Crisis in North Korea.