JSTOR Daily published a whopping 834 stories in 2017—that’s a lot for our small staff. Here are the greatest hits: our personal favorites and yours. As always, each of these stories includes free, open links to relevant scholarship on JSTOR. Happy New Year!
The Global Jellyfish Crisis in Perspective
March 29, 2017
Are the increasing jellyfish blooms in our oceans the result of global temperature changes?
Women Were Pirates, Too
May 6, 2017
Maybe you've never heard of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, but they were real-life women pirates who cross-dressed to get on ships.
Video: Lady Deborah Moody and the Founding of Gravesend, Brooklyn
October 23, 2017
A short video describing the colonial village of Gravesend, Brooklyn, founded by Lady Deborah Moody in 1643, only to somewhat mysteriously disappear.
When Societies Put Animals on Trial
September 13, 2017
Animal trials were of two kinds: (1) secular suits against individual creatures; and (2) ecclesiastic cases against groups of vermin.
How to Build a City That Doesn’t Flood? Turn it Into a Sponge City
December 5, 2017
Cities encourage potentially devastating floods by laying down asphalt and pavement. Could this be avoided by making them "spongier" and more absorbent?
“Thoughts and Prayers” in Greek Tragedy
December 4, 2017
With national tragedies now as frequent and predictable as sunrises, no phrase has lost consolatory power more swiftly than “thoughts and prayers.”
The QWERTY Truth
February 17, 2017
How did the QWERTY keyboard became the gold standard? The answer is probably not what you'd think. Welcome to the economic concept of "path dependence."
Will We Always Have the Poor Among Us?
January 11, 2017
To end poverty, public policy must provide much more than economic resources
The Devastation of Black Wall Street
July 5, 2017
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921. A wave of racial violence destroys an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.
Ancient Maps Are Mirrors for the Ancient Psyche
October 4, 2017
The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences, and Marvels for the Eyes, an eleventh-century Arabic geography, is still a wonder.
From the Mixed-Up History of Mrs., Miss, and Ms.
November 8, 2017
Language can reveal power dynamics, as in the terms of address, or honorifics, are used to refer to a woman's social status: Mrs., Miss, and Ms.
The Lost History of Early Muslim Americans
November 8, 2016
Islam in America is clearly nothing new.
Finding the Words We Need to Talk About Sexual Assault and Harassment
October 31, 2017
"Me too." As the conversation around sexual assault has spread, it's become clear that not everybody is prepared to talk about such a difficult issue.
Charlottesville Syllabus: Readings on the History of Hate in America
August 16, 2017
The history of racism and ethnic hate in America is long and deep. What are the cultural, economic, and political currents that led us here?
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