Skip to content
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.

Sperm whale
Plants & Animals

What Is Ambergris and Where Does It Come From?

Ambergris, a waxy-like substance found in perfumes, has a unique origin.
Thomé de Gamond's plan of 1856 for a cross-Channel link, with a port/airshaft on the Varne sandbank mid-Channel
Politics & History

The Channel Tunnel Is a Product of Politics, Not Engineering

The history of the Channel Tunnel is the really the contentious history between France and England.
The Statue of Liberty.
Politics & History

The Poem at the Foot of Lady Liberty

Emma Lazarus's famous poem welcoming refugees to America was written during a period of nativist backlash against immigrants.
Presidential portrait of Woodrow Wilson
Politics & History

Understanding Woodrow Wilson’s Racism

Woodrow Wilson's racism was of its time, and so were critiques of it by the likes of political ally turned critic, W.E.B. Du Bois.
Farm workers harvesting vegetable crop.
Politics & Government

Deportation: A History

Operation Wetback was another example of deportation being used as a social and political method of control.
From left: Star Wars movie poster 1977, Star Wars: Phantom Menace movie poster 1999, Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie poster 2015
Arts & Culture

The War On Star Wars

The force isn't for everyone.
Mandarin orange
Health

Ignoring the Cure for Scurvy

It may have altered the outcome of the Revolutionary War.
A bowl of mashed sweet potatoes.
Politics & History

Considering the Sweet Potato

The sweet potato is a New World food that spread around the world, including across the Pacific before the Europeans got there.
Hitler speaks, 1. February 1933
Politics & Government

What Does the Word “Propaganda” Mean?

It has been put to many uses.
William Shakespeare's King Lear
Arts & Culture

When King Lear Was a Rom-Com

The King Lear people saw for almost two centuries was very different from Shakespeare's.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Politics & Government

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Pulpit

Judging from his public speeches, Franklin D. Roosevelt--aka FDR--may have been our most religious 20th century President.
Persecution of Gypsies in occupied Yugoslavia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Politics & History

The Persecution of the Romani by the Nazis

Like the Jews, the Romani were victims of the Nazi's ideology of race.
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo


Art & Art History

Art and the Spoils of War

The Nazis weren't the first looters of European art treasures.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her later years


Politics & History

Celebrating Feminist Pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton

We highlight two of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's essays on the bicentennial of her birth.
Electrolytically refined pure (99.989 %) superficially oxidized lead nodules and a high purity (99.989 %) 1 cm3 lead cube for comparison.
Science & Technology

Lead: Our Four-Thousand Year Old Pollutant

The history of lead pollution goes back 4000 years.
Bergonic chair for giving general electric treatment for psychological effect, in psycho-neurotic cases. World War 1 era.
Health

Why Electroshock Therapy Isn’t Bad for You

Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock, has a bad reputation, but medically its efficacy is well documented, even if nobody knows how it works.
Thomas Couture - Horace and Lydia
Politics & History

Two Enemies Bound by the Poet Horace

How Horace brought to enemies together during WWII and what role the poet played in the post-war cultural identity of Europe.
Workers are dwarfed by the 10-foot Cardiff Giant as they dig him out of his "grave" in Cardiff, N.Y., in this 1869 file photo. AP Photo/Farmers Museum, HO)
Politics & History

The Cardiff Giant: The Biggest Hoax of the 19th Century

The Cardiff Giant was the greatest hoax in an era of hoaxes.
Holotype of Diplazium grammatoides Fée; Verified by George R. Proctor, 1985/10
Plants & Animals

Botanist and Murderer? The Strange End of George R. Proctor

The obituary of noted botanist George R. Proctor reveals a surprising story.
Hare Majesteit ontvangt premier Trudeau op Paleis Soestdijk 27 februari 1975
Politics & History

Remembering Pierre Trudeau, Father of Canada’s New Prime Minister

Canada's new Prime Minister is the son of Pierre Trudeau, the most famous Canadian politician of the late 20th century.
Sanders campaigning in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 2015
Politics & Government

What Is Democratic Socialism?

Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist, but just what is democratic socialism and where did it come from?
Front of Nobel Prize medal
Arts & Culture

On The Cultural Logic of Prizes

Prizes and awards are forms of cultural capital in prestige-making projects.
Thomas P. Gore
Politics & Government

Senator Thomas Gore, Grandfather of Gore Vidal

Thomas Gore was a senator from Oklahoma. His isolationism philosophy may have been his greatest legacy to his grandson, Gore Vidal.
Cover of the book The Catcher in the Rye written by J. D. Salinger.
 (left) The front cover of the first issue of Playboy, December 1953 (right)
Politics & History

J.D. Salinger and Playboy: The Fight Against Obscenity

The Citizens for Decent Literature launched various anti-obscenity campaigns against magazines like Playboy and MAD and books like Catcher in the Rye.
Mayor John Lindsay at the first public hearing on proposed executive capital budget.
Politics & Government

John Lindsay, Last of the Liberal Republicans

Yes, there was once such a thing as a liberal Republican. We take a look at the rise and fall of John Lindsay, former Mayor of New York.

Support JSTOR Daily

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