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.
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.
These Posters from Mao’s China Taught Public Health Awareness
A series of reforms known as the Patriotic Health Campaign brought colorful posters depicting good hygiene and workplace safety practices.
Chivalric Romance, Meet Gunpowder Reality
The manly knight wouldn't have lasted a day in sixteenth-century combat. So why was he so popular as a literary figure at the time?
How Thomas Mann Turned against the German Right
The best-selling author supported the Kaiser during World War I. What made him change his mind about politics later?
The “Deviant” African Genders That Colonialism Condemned
European travellers and anthropologists found that their gendered worldview didn’t easily map onto the societies they encountered.
The Global History of Labor and Race: Foundations and Key Concepts
How have workers around the world sought to change their conditions, and how have racial divisions affected their efforts?
The Unlikely Role of Kitchens in Occupied Japan
After World War II, "occupationaries" tried to spread American-style domesticity to Japanese women.
Black Conquistadors and Black Maroons
Some formerly enslaved Blacks and freedmen accompanied the Spanish invaders; others formed their own communities.