Erin Blakemore

Erin Blakemore is a Boulder, Colorado-based journalist Her debut book, The Heroine’s Bookshelf (Harper), won a Colorado Book Award for Nonfiction and has been translated into Italian, Korean and Portuguese. Erin has written about history and culture and other topics for Smithsonian.com, The Washington Post, TIME, mental_floss, NPR’s This I Believe, The Onion, Popular Science, Modern Farmer and other journals. You can find more of her work at erinblakemore.com.

Andrew Jackson in black and white

Politics & History

Andrew Jackson’s Duels

Andrew Jackson had a predilection for old-fashioned fights of honor.

Texas flag

Politics & History

Enslaved People in Texas and the Mexican Border

How the nearness of the Mexican border influenced formerly enslaved people in the state of Texas.

Old combat boots and military canteen

Politics & History

What Soldiers Ate During World War I

By World War I, writes Murlin, emerging nutritional science was becoming a priority in the Army.

A group pf men smiling and arriving at a nightclub

Education & Society

The Bachelor Party as Folk Ritual

A folklorist embarks on a years-long study of the bachelor party.

Bees busy at work in their beehive

Politics & History

Historical Hives and the Buzz About Bees

A historical look at bee hives in philosophy, literature, politics, and beyond.

Frida Kahlo's house

Art & Art History

Inside Frida Kahlo’s Garden

What was the inspiration behind Friday Kahlo's iconic garden?

Politics & History

Social Work Traditions and Jane Addams

Was Jane Addams a social worker? Donald Breiland explores in a piece that delves into the definitions of social work today and yesterday.

Tornado moving through a small town

Natural Science

Protecting People from Tornadoes in the 1880s

Two articles from 1883 and 1884 offer insight into tornadoes from another time.

Pregnant woman typing on a keyboard

The Intimate World of Mommy Blogs

Are mommy blogs helpful for online communities?

An older McDonald's sign

How McDonald’s Got Its Golden Arches

How McDonald's Got its iconic Golden Arches.

Painting of debating women in a French courtroom in Pre-Revolutionary France

Education & Society

Debating Birth Control In Pre-Revolutionary France

Attitudes toward birth control in 18th century France.

Rows of counterfeit bags in various colors

Where There’s Luxury, There’s The Urge to Counterfeit

Why do consumers love counterfeit copies of luxury brands?

Victoria Secret storefront

Education & Society

When Sex Didn’t Sell: Marketing Victoria’s Secret and Frederick’s of Hollywood

How will Frederick’s of Hollywood be remembered in a Victoria's Secret age?

Illustration form Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince."

In Flight with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The little known aviation career of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince.

Oil painting of an older woman from the late 1800's; "The Spinster" painted by Evert Larock

Original Spin: On the History of the Spinster

The cultural and economic history of the spinster.

Gunter Grass

Gruppe 47: The Group That Made Günter Grass

How did Günter Grass go from child soldier to literary titan? Part of the answer lies in the history of literary group Gruppe 47.

Linda Taylor, 49, the so-called "welfare queen", was sentenced to serve two-to-six years in prison in Chicago, May 13, 1977. She is shown on her way to sentencing. Taylor was convicted March 17 of theft and perjury. Man escorting her is unidentified. (AP Photo)

Tracing the Specter of the ‘Welfare Queen’

The origins of the controversial phrase Welfare Queen.

Close up of a petition for divorce with pen and calculator

Education & Society

Divorce in the U.S.A.

A glimpse into the long history of divorce in the United States offers perspective on how much has changed.

Laura Keene

What Role Did Laura Keene Play on Abraham Lincoln’s Last Night?

Actress Laura Keene's role on the night of Lincoln's assassination is shrouded in myth.

Students looking for books in a school library

A Brief History of Young Adult Fiction

Before there such a thing as "YA," librarians struggled not just to define a genre, but to figure out how to get books in the hands of young readers.

The Daily Show
Jon Stewart
Comedy Central/Courtesy Neal Peters Collection

‘The Daily Show’ as Political Influence

Does the Daily Show really impact people's political views?

"Olive Oatman, 1857" by unattributed - Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olive_Oatman,_1857.png#/media/File:Olive_Oatman,_1857.png

Politics & History

Olive Oatman: The Girl With the Mojave Tattoo

The mysterious story of Olive Oatman who returned after years of captivity with the Mojave.

© 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Art & Art History

Picasso’s Pricey ‘Femmes d’Alger’

Picasso's "Femmes d'Alger" is set to take the record for most expensive painting ever sold.

Karla Mosley credited as Maya Avant, her character on The Bold and the Beautiful

Coming Clean on Gender in Soap Operas

Academic scholarship on gender in soap operas.

Billie Holliday singing into a studio mic in black and white

Remembering Billie Holiday

The 100th anniversary of Billie Holiday's birth.

Editors' Picks

James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni in Conversation

In 1971, two legends of Black letters discussed Black manhood, white racism, the role of the writer, and the responsibility to teach.

Science & Technology

Can We Build a Better Facebook?

Is it time to turn our back on Facebook? And if so, what social network could possibly replace it?

Science & Technology

The Anatomists of Ancient Alexandria

Cultural forces under the Ptolemaic dynasty briefly allowed scholars like Herophilus to practice dissection—and possibly vivisection—on human subjects.

Politics & History

The Genocide Before the Shoah

For a century, Jews in Turkey have maintained a strategic silence when it comes to recognizing the Armenian genocide. Could that be changing?

Politics & History

Wilhelm Reich: Twice Burned

A psychoanalyst and physician, Reich fled the Nazis only to be detained by the US as an “enemy alien” during World War II. And then came the sexual revolution.