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Black and white headshot of author Matthew Wills

Matthew Wills

Matthew Wills has advanced degrees in library science and film studies and is lapsed in both fields. He has published in Poetry, Huffington Post, and Nature Conservancy Magazine, among other places, and blogs regularly about urban natural history at matthewwills.com.

civil rights marcher
Politics & History

Women Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement

Women leaders of the Civil Rights movement worked under the triple constraints of gender, race, and class. Their contribution hasn't gotten its due.
Harvard quad
Politics & History

The Infamous Tale of the Murderous Chemistry Professor

The murder of Dr. George Parkman on the campus of Harvard College was one of the most famous crimes in nineteenth century America.
dead sea scroll
Education & Society

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Still Unscrolling

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered some 70 years ago after 2000 years in the desert, have had a controversial and conflicted life.
Herman Melville
Arts & Culture

Melville’s Confidence Man Today

Does Herman Melville's 1857 novel The Confidence-Man have anything to tell us about our present day? Philip Roth thinks so.
General strike, Spain
Politics & History

The Curious Character Who First Called For a General Strike

The idea of a general strike is to shut down all but essential services in a city, region, or nation. America has had its share. A Briton invented the idea.
Hollerith Machine
Politics & Government

WWII and the First Ethical Hacker

Rene Carmille has been called the first ethical hacker for sabotaging the computerization of data about French Jews during World War II.
Source:
Politics & History

The February Revolution: Why Didn’t They Shoot?

The Russian Revolution of 1917 had two parts. The Bolshevik's October Revolution usually gets all of the attention. But what happened in February?
FDR in Oval Office, 1935
Politics & Government

What Are Executive Orders Anyway?

Donald Trump's executive orders are coming fast and furious, but what exactly are they? And why are they the Presidential go-to tactic now?
petition
Politics & Government

What’s With All The Petitions?

The last clause of the First Amendment guarantees the right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Where did this idea come from?
baby sheep
Plants & Animals

The Invention of Pets

Pet are a relatively recent invention. In the 18th and 19th centuries, pethood arose in the split between farm animals and home animals.
Naples, National Archaeological Museum, Alexander Mosaic
Art & Art History

Millennia of Mosaics

The mosaics in New York City's new 2nd Avenue subway stations follow a tradition thousands of years old.
Stiff clubmoss (Lycopodium annotinum) in summer
Plants & Animals

The Many Unexpected Jobs of the Clubmoss Spore

The first working internal combustion machine debuted in 1807, powered by lycopodium powder, which is made of explosive plant spores.
Andrew Johnson impeachment trial
Politics & Government

Impeaching History

Got impeachment? Not much. In American history, there have only been a total of 19 impeachment trials in the U.S. Senate.
Joyce Appleby
Politics & History

Historian Joyce Appleby Remembered

Historian Joyce Appleby, a major contributor to our understanding of early American history, passed away last month. We remember her.
Edmund Burke
Politics & Government

Edmund Burke and the Birth of Traditional Conservatism

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) is one of the philosophical fountainheads of modern conservatism. But he didn't start out that way.
Russian oil
Science & Technology

When Russia Conquered the World with White Oil

Russia was the first source of white oil, a Vaseline-like mix of hydrocarbons used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and plastics.
John Berger
Art & Art History

John Berger, 1926-2017

John Berger has died at the age of 90. Famous for his television series and book Ways of Seeing, he was a critic, artist, novelist, poet, and radical.
Pocahontas and John Smith
Politics & History

The Real Pocahontas

Pocahontas, Matoaka, and Lady Rebecca Rolfe were all the same young woman, who died in 1617, a long way from home.
First Ellis Island wooden structure
Politics & History

The Curious History of Ellis Island

Ellis Island celebrates its 125th anniversary as the federal immigration depot. From 1892-1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through the island.
Katz's Deli
Education & Society

The Genealogy of the Jewish Deli

The Jewish deli is a New York City tradition that has spread far beyond the city's limits. It's a tradition worthy of its own history.
Poinsettia
Politics & Government

What Poinsettias Have to do with U.S.-Mexico Relations

Poinsettias were named for the first US diplomat to Mexico. The flower was more successful than he was. How it went from Aztec dye to Christmas decoration.
George Washington inauguration
Politics & Government

Why the Presidential Inauguration is in January

The Presidential Inauguration is January 20th as a result of a twentieth century change to the U.S. Constitution. Originally, it was March 4th.
Marquis de Lafayette
Politics & History

Foreign Intervention… in the American Revolution

Foreign powers have been interfering in our politics since day one, when we welcomed it from France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Santa at chimney
Education & Society

What Santa Claus Looks Like

Where does the figure of Santa Claus come from? Turns out the answer is not "the North Pole." And he's not just about Christianity, either.
2012 Cartogram
Politics & Government

Time for Reform of the Electoral College?

Is it finally time to reform the Electoral College after 2000 and 2016? If so, how could this be done?

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