Victorian dresses

Victorian England Had a Problem With Cloth Piracy

Calico took the newly industrial world by storm. But battles over bolts of fabric shook Britain during the nineteenth century.
Danish Expedition

The Fantastic Disaster of the Arabia Felix Expedition

The Danish expedition to the Arabian Peninsula of 1761-1767 was a bungle of mismatched egos and wretched conditions. There was only a single survivor.
US Army Philippines War poster

The Ugly Origins of America’s Involvement in the Philippines

The American use of torture, then called the "water cure," in the Philippines during the war of 1899-1902 shocked some Americans of the day.
Sophie Scholl

Sophie Scholl and the Legacy of Resistance

Sophie Scholl has become the face of resistance to Nazism. That took decades, as the legacy of resistance itself was resisted.
Turkish elections

The Turkish Origins of the “Deep State”

The "deep state" idea of a shadowy parallel government, heard much in the news now, seems to be a concept borrowed from the Turkish experience.
1596 Mercator map of Scotland

Is Scotland a Nation?

What is Scotland, a country and/or nation, or just a region within Great Britain, a piece of the United Kingdom? Let's explore Scots nationalism.
Nazis Kurt Daluege, Heinrich Himmler, Ernst Röhm in 1933

Ernst Röhm, The Highest-Ranking Gay Nazi

Ernst Röhm, the highest-ranking gay Nazi, presents an interesting study in the construction and containment of masculinity by the right.
Quebecois flag

The Recipe for Secession: What Makes Nations Leave

Secession doesn't come from one event, but is borne of economic disparities, identity crises, legislative failure, and bad blood.
Liberian flag

Liberia: A Primer

Liberia, named for liberty in 1824, has had a rough go of it since being colonized by African-Americans settled there by the American Colonization Society.
German dissidents Friedrich and Pauline Kellner's 1935 passport photos

Papers, Please: The Invention of the Passport

Immigration and national security remain at the top of President Trump’s agenda. He issued a revised executive order ...