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.

Mary Somerville
Politics & History

Mary Somerville, Queen of 19th Century Science

Mary Somerville, one of the first women scientists and science writers, came to be known after her death as the "queen of 19th century science." 
Mrs. Rose O'Brine works in the bookstore at the John Birch Society in Belmont, Mass., April 14, 1976. (AP Photo/J. Walter Green)
Politics & History

John Birch Had Nothing to Do with the John Birch Society

The real John Birch, the first American casualty of the Cold War, would not have been pleased with his name becoming the beacon of the extreme Right.
Chief of Staff Lutze visits the new Italian settlements in Libya. The Chief of Staff and His Excellency Russo inspect ranks of Askaris (native soldiers) in Nalut.
Politics & History

Libya’s Italian Connection

The intimate historical connection between Italy and Libya. 
Cover of English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems
Arts & Culture

Revisiting John Williams, Novelist and Editor

Today marks the publication of English Renaissance Poetry, an anthology of poems selected by the novelist John Williams. 
Painted eyes on a speckled background
Politics & Government

The Perpetual Paranoid Style in American Politics

The "paranoid style" isn't so much periodical as it is perpetual. 
Book of love
Arts & Culture

Who Wrote the Book of Love?

Did the troubadours write the book of love, or just a kind of love poetry? 
Photograph of Charles Darwin by Maull and Polyblank for the Literary and Scientific Portrait Club (1855).
Natural Science

Charles Darwin In His Own Words

Some collected letters and observations from the great naturalist, Charles Darwin. 
Illustration of Chaucer
Politics & History

The Love Birds of Valentine’s Day

A little history behind the love birds that inspired Chaucer to invent Valentine's Day, the well-known celebration of love. 
Grandchildren of slaves.
Politics & History

A Formerly Enslaved Woman Successfully Won a Case for Reparations in 1783

In one of the earliest examples of reparations, an ex-slave named Belinda petitioned the government and was granted an annuity.
It is the bean, that we mean, so white and lean.
Politics & History

What It Was Like To Be an African-American Soldier During the Civil War

What was it like to be one of the 186,017 African Americans who served in the Union Army during the Civil War?
Blackfish. G. H. Nickerson, Provincetown, Cape Cod Views.
Politics & History

Why Don’t Americans Eat Whale?

Whales have been used for everything but meat in this country. Why is that?
The great resettlement of the ethnic Germans from the East began its second phase. Following the Baltic Germans, well over 100,000 Volhynian Germans came back into the Reich. The men started the trek to the new settlements, while the women and children found a caring reception in the large transit camps.
Politics & History

The Largest Forced Migration In European History

Trump's comments on deporting 11 million undocumented migrants have precedent: the forced migration of millions of ethnic-Germans in the aftermath of WWII.
The road to liberty; a station on the Underground Railroad.
Politics & History

The Secret Order Behind the Underground Railroad

William Lambert and George De Baptiste, free-born black men, used the underground railroad to help slaves escape to British Canada. 
Going through the storm of Universal suffrage...
Politics & Government

The Golden Age of Political Cartoons

Does it sometimes seem as if our political culture is a political cartoon?
Presidential Candidates Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Politics & Government

How Important is the New Hampshire Primary Anyway?

Once considered essential, winning the New Hampshire primary is no longer indicative of who will become the next President.
A man stands guard after members of the "3% of Idaho" group along with several other organizations arrived at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016. A small, armed group has been occupying the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon for a week to protest federal land use policies. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Politics & Government

Where the “Well Regulated Militia” Clause Came From

The ideological roots of the concept of militias in America stretch back into English history.
Katma Airfield Sandplain Grasslands. Photo courtesy of Christopher Neill/MBL
Plants & Animals

Why the Sandplain Grasslands Are So Special

Sandplain grasslands, a kind of East Coast prairie, are some of the rarest habitats in the world, and sheep-grazing may be key to their survival.
Portrait of Aaron Burr, 1802
Politics & History

Aaron Burr: Most Hated Man in American History

A more sympathetic look at Aaron Burr, the man who killed Alexander Hamilton.
Powerball Lottery Ticket
Business & Economics

Who Buys Lottery Tickets?

Buying lottery tickets is a desperate measure when you are poor.
David Bowie AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler
Arts & Culture

The Science Fiction of David Bowie

David Bowie died January 10th, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his album Blackstar. 
Mug shot taken in 1901 when Goldman was implicated in the assassination of President McKinley
Politics & History

From Enemy to Icon: The Life of Emma Goldman

While alive, Emma Goldman was considered an enemy of the state. In death, she became a celebrated American icon. 
Uncle Sam holding paper "Protest against Russian exclusion of Jewish Americans" and looking in shock at Chinese skeleton labeled "American exclusion of Chinese" in closet.
Politics & History

How the Chinese Fought Discrimination in 19th Century Arizona

Chinese immigrants in the American West faced legal discrimination and fought back against it using other laws.
Julius Caesar
Politics & History

Why New Years Falls on January 1st

Why do we celebrate the beginning of the New Year on the first of January? Julius Caesar, mostly.
John Hope Franklin, who heads President Clinton's Commission on Race Relations, works with orchids in his backyard greenhouse, in Durham, N.C., on Aug. 25, 1997. (AP Photo/Grant Halverson)
Politics & History

Remembering Historian John Hope Franklin

Franklin helped to change the way we think about slavery and Reconstruction.
Terrorism definition
Politics & History

How Do You Define Terrorism?

The definition of terrorism, which has been with us for a long time, is being debated domestically and internationally.

Support JSTOR Daily

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