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The Trouble with Absinthe

When temperance advocates won the ban on absinthe in 1915, many of them saw it as the first step in a broader anti-drinking campaign.
King (Kabaka) Mwanga from Buganda (1868-1903)

Anthropologists Hid African Same-Sex Relationships

Sex between people of the same gender has existed for millennia. But anthropologists in sub-Saharan Africa often ignored or distorted those relationships.
Rustam captures the King of Mâzandarân and takes him before the tent of Kay Kâ'ûs.

The Movable Tent Cities of the Ottoman Empire

The most lavish among them were festooned with colorful appliqué and brightened with gilded leather.
The Terra Nova, 1911

Why Cheerfulness Mattered in the Antarctica Expedition of 1912

Often associated with stoic masculinity, Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition was in fact defined by cheerfulness and friendly homemaking.
A disabled war veteran in Berlin, 1923

When Germany Called its Soldiers Hysterical

After WWI, German psychiatrists diagnosed traumatized soldiers as having "hysteria," othering the men to somewhat disastrous effect.
Into the Jaws of Death by Robert F. Sargent

The Weather Forecast That Saved D-Day

Operation Overlord launched the invasion of German-occupied Europe during WWII. But the right weather, tides, and moonlight were essential for it to work.
Joseph Priestley, 1822, in front of a colorful background

Joseph Priestley, Radical Inventor

How scientist and soda water inventor Joseph Priestley came to be an enemy of the state.
The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Greek Gods and Game Theory

Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interaction. Connecting it with famous stories makes it easier for students to grasp.
Three of the four hostages and bank robber Clark Olofsson, standing right, in a bank in Stockholm, Sweden, Aug. 27, 1973

Stockholm Syndrome

What really happened that summer day in 1973? And what does it reveal about our cultural attitudes toward violence?
Mahatma Gandhi receiving a donation in a train compartment, 1940

Mahatma Gandhi, Master Mediator

Gandhi's legacy helped shape independent India, if in sometimes indirect ways.