The Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge
The first trial to use forensic toxicology electrified France in 1840 with the tale of a bad marriage and poisoned innards.
The Mormon Fans of Europe’s 1848 Revolutions
As the crowned heads of Europe shuddered at the unrest in the streets, members of the Latter-Day Saints movement cheered.
The Victorian Tea “Infomercial”
By the 19th century, tea was the British national beverage, and "tea histories" were a form of imperial propaganda.
The South African Experience with Changing the Police from Within
In states transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy, resistance to police abuses can make or break the larger democratic project, explains one social scientist.
India’s Coronavirus Migration Crisis
Widespread market failure and unemployment triggered by the coronavirus pandemic have set off a crisis of domestic migration in India.
The Weed Scientist Who Brought Down the Wrath of Stalin
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov's hypothesis on the evolution of rye is now accepted. But in the 1930s, his research got him arrested.
Everyone in Pompeii Got Takeout, Too
Archaeologists have found that snack bars called tabernae fed much of the city in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
Dean Mahomet: Travel Writer, Border Crosser
The author of what is considered the first English-language book by an Indian writer was neither a rebel nor an accommodationist.
Was Russia Destined to Be an Autocracy?
The most important factors that steered Russia away from democracy, says one scholar, weren't inevitable.
How to Memorialize a Plague
Vienna's baroque Plague Column, completed in 1693, gave thanks for the survival of a city.