Skip to content
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.

A water tower at sunset.
Politics & History

Before Flint: How Ancient Civilizations Maintained Their Drinking Water

Ancient civilizations utilized various creative strategies to supply their populations with usable and drinkable water. 
The symbol for polyamory
Education & Society

This Side of Paradise: How Christian and Goth Men View Their Sexualities

Christian and Goth men both transgress typical notions of masculine sexuality, but how they go about it differ greatly. 
"Men with sign "International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union""
Politics & History

Why We Should Care About the Death of Labor Unions

Labor unions nationwide may be weakened by the Supreme Court. But unions have been instrumental in protecting the interests of underrepresented groups.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. By Herman Hiller / New York World-Telegram & Sun, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Politics & History

Ronald Reagan and the Rewriting of Martin Luther King’s Legacy

Ronald Reagan invoked Dr. King's legacy to fit with his larger political and rhetorical aims. 
A Whole Foods Market
Business

Whole Foods and the Problem With Enlightened Consumption

Whole Foods may promise ethical products, but its offerings often contradict expectations. 
Students taking their SATs
Education

Are We Witnessing the Death of the SAT?

Initially meant to test IQ, the SAT slowly proved to be an inefficient predictor of student success at the college-level.
Woman cooking in domestic kitchen.
Business

How Advertisers Sold Housework to Housewives

The ad campaigns behind household products emphasized the seriousness of housework.
Radcliffe Quad undergrad housing at Harvard University
Education

Affirmative-Action for White Protestants

A different side to affirmative-action: How legacy admissions maintained white Protestant student enrollment at elite universities.
U.S Deficit
Politics & History

Do Americans Like Government Spending? Depends How You Ask

Whether or not Americans approve of government spending depends strongly on how the issues are framed.
Ebeneezer Scrooge
Business

Charles Dickens Had It Right

Materialism, by most measures, does not correlate to happiness.
Margaret Sanger
Politics & History

Margaret Sanger’s Eugenics Defense

Margaret Sanger's belief in eugenics stemmed from her interest in individual choice—an idea that brought birth control into the mainstream of American life.
Raw kombu
Arts & Culture

Tasty! The Story of MSG

MSG, the Japanese flavor enhancer, has grown into an international sensation. But its history is also fraught with tension.
Christmas Lights
Arts & Culture

The Class Perceptions of Christmas Decorations in Great Britain

In the U.K., Christmas decorations are often associated with the lower-class, and such visibility has been scorned and criticized.
Man inside a voting booth.
Politics & History

How Class Conflicts Determine Voter Turnout

Studying voting data from 1840 to the 1990s, a correlation emerges between voter turnout and class conflicts throughout the country.
A man is talking while his assistant takes notes.
Business

Why Is Clerical Work Women’s Work?

As office jobs increased in the early 20th century, so did the distinction between men and women appropriate employment.
Hitler salutes marching Nazis in Weimar – Oct 1930
Politics & History

What Christmas Meant to the Nazis

The Nazi regime used Christmas to foster among the German people a sense of national unity and pride.
People standing in the office and working together on computer.
Business

When Companies Try to Socialize Their Employees

Recreational facilities were introduced by employers to encourage employee loyalty and instill within them certain middle-class values.
Weldon's Ladies' Journal April 1895 Public Domain via <a href="http://elusivemu.se/resources-for-artists-public-domain-fashion-images/#prettyPhoto[gallery-1]/1" target="_blank">elusivemu.se</a>
Arts & Culture

The Birth of Fashion Magazines

Fashion magazines, which first emerged in the 19th century, bridged notions of femininity with an increasingly consumerist society.
Family sitting around the dinner table.
Education & Society

What Makes a “Home”?

Privacy and retreat weren't always hallmarks of one's home.
Spoiled girl crying.
Education & Society

The Spoiled Child Is Not a Modern Invention

You know what’s wrong with kids these days? They want to “take things easy.” Or so said a school superintendent in 1905.
Philadelphia, PA, USA - December 12, 2014; Temple University students march on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, PA during a 'Black Lives Mater' protest march. (photo by Bas Slabbers)
Education

Challenging Unpopular Ideas on College Campuses Isn’t New

And it wasn't invented by millenials.
Sign for LGBT
Business

The Work Life of Transpeople

How transpeople actively do and undo gender in the workplace.
Concerned Student 1950, led by University of Missouri graduate student Jonathan Butler, second from right, speaks following the announcement that University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe would resign Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, in Columbia, Mo. Wolfe resigned Monday with the football team and others on campus in open revolt over his handling of racial tensions at the school. (Sarah Bell/Missourian via AP)
Education & Society

The Pervasive Racism on U.S. College Campuses

How faculty and students of color are marginalized by their own institutions.
A girl studying.
Business & Economics

The Real Driver Behind Curbing Population Growth

The solution isn't minimizing poverty or supplying more contraceptives.
Grasslands
Science & Technology

How Mining Impacted the Midwestern Grasslands

Is it possible to recover from the effects of coal mining? We investigate.

Support JSTOR Daily

Help us keep publishing stories that provide scholarly context to the news.