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Black and white headshot of author Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon

Livia Gershon is a freelance writer in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her writing has appeared in publications including Salon, Aeon Magazine and the Good Men Project. Contact her on Twitter @liviagershon.

Still Life with a Peacock Pie
Education & Society

The Joy of Eating in Utopia

The early socialist Charles Fourier had grand ideas about food. The pleasure of eating was right up there with sex.
A cowboy pulling a sleigh of gifts
Business

The Rise and Fall of Montana’s Christmas-Tree Harvest

Douglas firs weren't great for lumber, but they once made the small town of Eureka the Christmas-tree capital of America.
Roald Dahl
Arts & Culture

Roald Dahl’s Anti-Black Racism

The first edition of the beloved novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured "pygmy" characters taken from Africa.
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus
Politics & History

Santa and Mrs. Claus and the Christmas War of the Sexes

In the late nineteenth century, bachelor Santa got married. Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Claus contributed uncompensated labor to the Claus household.
A woman in a soviet house
Politics & History

Early Television in the Soviet Union

Communist Party officials saw potential in the new technology in the 1950s. So did ordinary people, but not always in the same way.
Two Khasi girls in traditional dress at the Shad Suk Mynsiem dance, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Politics & History

What Does It Mean to Be a Matriarchy?

Using the definition that European theorists invented in the nineteenth century may not work for every society, like the Khasi.
A seminole town
Politics & History

The History of the Black Seminoles

The community's resilient history speaks of repeated invasions and resistance to enslavement.
An illustration from America's story for America's children, 1900
Education

How (Not) to Teach Kids about Native Cultures

Even well-intentioned books for children can romanticize (or demonize) Native Americans. But better materials exist.
Edward Drinker Cope
Politics & History

The Bizarre Theories of the American School of Evolution

The paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope condemned women's suffrage and Black Americans through an evolutionary lens.
Illustration: An arithmetic class at a school in London, England. Published in the Illustrated London News, October 3, 1891 Source: Getty
Education

Why Would Parents Oppose Compulsory Education?

In Victorian England, reformers thought all children should go to school. That didn't sit well with everyone—and not just kids.
Pensive Caucasian man sitting on sofa near window
Health

How the Internet Changed Chronic Illness

Online communities show that isolation doesn't have to define the experience of having a chronic disease.
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Clockwise from left: Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White.
Education

Music Education and the Birth of Motown

Music teachers in the Detroit public schools paved the way for the success of future Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
Cinnamon sticks and powder
Politics & History

The Desperate Quest for American Cinnamon

Centuries ago, Europeans went to extreme and horrific lengths in search of the spice.
An illustration of a voodoo dance, 1883
Politics & History

Racism and the Fear of “Voodoo”

During Reconstruction, lurid tales of African-derived religious practices in Louisiana made news all over the country—especially when worshipers included white women.
Garlic
Politics & History

Garlic and Social Class

Immigrants from southern Italy were stereotyped for their use of the aromatic vegetable.
A man doing the dishes at home
Health

An Effective Treatment for Diabetes? Try an Apartment

Subsidized housing promotes the kind of stability that makes it easier for people with type 2 diabetes to maintain their health.
Voters dropping their voting slips into the ballot box.
Politics & Government

Why Do We Vote by Secret Ballot?

Election days used to be raucous affairs, with individual votes sometimes cast orally for all to hear.
The cover of the first edition of Slan by A.E. van Vogt
Politics & History

The Self-Styled Sci-Fi Supermen of the 1940s

Way before there were stans, there were slans. Too bad about their fascist utopian daydreams!
Daisetsu Teitarō Suzuki photographed by Shigeru Tamura
Education & Society

D.T. Suzuki’s Very American Zen

Zen was a conservative form of Buddhism in Japan that eventually became a way for Americans to find inner peace.
Artificial intelligence. Male open head with cyberbrain inside.
Science & Technology

Are the Posthumans Here Yet?

Implanting machine components into human bodies, argues one scholar, could make for a better society.
fire lights the hills from a controlled burn off of maize stubble on a farm property at Makikihi in South Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand.
Science & Technology

The Global Suppression of Indigenous Fire Management

Indigenous peoples' techniques to manage and benefit from fire are threatened, even as wildfires burn more frequently and intensely.
Two women hugging in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Education & Society

When It Comes to Coming Out, Location Matters

Two scholars compared coming out experiences in the U.S. and France. The differences may speak to shifts in everyday life for LGBTQ people.
An early nineteenth century wheelchair
Politics & History

The Rise of Disability Stigma

Religion once held sway over how people thought about disability. How did that change with the rise of secularism?
An altar for Santa Muerte
Education & Society

Who Is Santa Muerte?

The folk saint Santa Muerte might seem mysterious, but her devotees embrace a wide variety of everyday practices.
La Liberté ou la Mort by Jean-Baptiste Regnault
Politics & History

The French Revolution as Illuminati Conspiracy

The Illuminati was a real secret society. But in the hands of British conservatives during the French Revolution, it became a massive conspiracy.

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