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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.

Stamp-shaped skull and crossbones
Politics & History

Stamping Out the Stamp Act

The history of the Stamp Act as it celebrates its 250th anniversary.
Globe showing Iran and its surrounding areas
Politics & History

Iranian/Persian Americans

Iranian and Persian identity in America.
Packaging for Munsell Crayons from the early 1900s
Natural Science

Color Us Munsell-Nickerson

The history of the Munsell-Nickerson color system.
Landing page for the International Monetary Fund website
Politics & Government

The IMF in Context

Governments and the IMF enter into an agreement for shadier reasons.
Greek flag
Politics & History

In Greece, “Ochi” Again

The Greeks rallied under the word "ochi", or no, as the Italians attempted to gain control of Greece during 1940-1941.
Relics from prior American War sit in the sunset
Politics & History

Origins of the Confederate Lost Cause

The mythos of the The Lost Cause of the Confederacy.
The French flag handing from the Arc de Triomphe
Politics & History

Bastille Day

The origins and contested meanings of Bastille Day.
Oil painting titled "Fur Traders Descending the Missouri" by George Caleb Bingham
Art & Art History

George Caleb Bingham: On Display in All His American Contradictions

An exhibition called "Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River," explores the artist in all of his contradictions.
Cover of Ecology
Science & Technology

The Ecological Society of America Turns 100

Ecological Society of America celebrates its centennial this year.
An illustration from Alice in Wonderland depicting Alice's encounter with a hookah smoking caterpillar
Arts & Culture

Off With Their Heads! Alice In Wonderland Turns 150

How Alice in Wonderland changed how we look at time and space.
An Election Entertainment by William Hogarth, 1754-1755
Politics & History

Never Mind That Extra Second, What Happened to Those 11 Days?

The 1752 British transition from Julian to Gregorian calendar added 11 days to people's lives.
Education & Society

Heat Waves: 20 Years After Chicago

Two articles look at the sociological impact of the 1995 heat wave in Chicago, which killed 700 people.
Confederate flag
Politics & History

That Flag Again: The Meanings of the Confederate Flag and Iconography

Different interpretations of confederate flag and confederate battle iconography.
Oil painting of the Battle of Waterloo
Politics & History

Waterloo at 200

John Houston takes a less melodic look at the transformation of the Battle of Waterloo from "fact to myth," from history to literature.
Black and white photograph of “369th 15th New York” from World War I
Politics & History

World War I Vets as the Vanguard of the ‘New Negro’

World War I saw several hundred thousand African-American soldiers discharged from a virulently segregated U.S. military into a virulently segregated society
Black and white drawing of Charles Babbage
Politics & History

A Polymath Opines: Charles Babbage’s Other Interests

Early writings of Charles Babbage.
1906 photograph of Ota Benga holding a chimpanzee at the Bronx Zoo
Politics & History

Ota Benga and the Living Ethnographic Exhibit

In the book Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, Pamela Newkirk tells a tale that is more than astonishing.
Kelli O'Hara and Ken Watanabe dancing in the 2018 "The King and I"
Arts & Culture

The Real Anna Leonowens

The real-life story of Anna Leonowens is actually more interesting than her fictionalized life in "The King and I."
Cover of North American Review
Arts & Culture

The North American Review Turns 200

Happy birthday to the North American Review!
Stamp commemorating Flannery O'Connor
Arts & Culture

Flannery O’Connor’s Stamp

Flannery O'Connor is being honored by a new stamp, which will be released on June 5th.
Two glasses of whisky
Business

Whisky’s 550th

550 years of Whisky
A black and white still from Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy
Arts & Culture

The Apu Trilogy Revisited

The Apu Trilogy of films has been newly restored and re-released
Dashiell Hammett
Arts & Culture

Dashiell Hammett’s Birthday

Celebrating the hard-boiled detective writer Dashiell Hammett's birthday.
Driver riding motorcycle on an empty asphalt road
Politics & History

A History of Motorcycle Communities

Motorcycle communities are much more divers than what you'd see on "Sons of Anarchy"
Black and white photograph of Harriet Tubman
Politics & History

Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill?

Harriet Tubman's known and lesser known accomplishments.

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