Sex and the Supermarket
Supermarkets represented a major innovation in food distribution—a gendered innovation that encouraged women to find sexual pleasure in subordination.
A Crash Course in the Demolition Derby
The demolition derby was ready-made for the age of planned obsolescence from automobile manufacturers, who happily sponsored demolition derby venues.
Why Our Work Affects How Kids Play
The way we think about the skills kids need—and even how they should play—is deeply tied to the characteristics we expect them to need as adults.
The Meaning of a Mustache
To shave or not to shave? At the start of the twentieth century, a trend away from facial hair reflected dramatic social and economic shifts.
Why India Once Led The Fashion Industry
India led the fashion world in the 16th and 17th centuries through cotton fabric, design motifs, and its customer-centric market system.
Why Women Burned Their Stockings in the 1930s
The average 1930s American woman bought up to 15 pairs of silk stockings a year—until, that is, women boycotted the fabric behind an essential garment.
The Devastation of Black Wall Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 1921. A wave of racial violence destroys an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.
How the Victorians Went Camping
If you’re going camping this summer, will you rough it on a wilderness hike, or relax in a ...
“Give Us Bread!”
In 1917, a food riot erupted in Brooklyn over the prices of staples. These forms of protest, sadly, are not quite yet ready for the dustbin of history.
Selling the Men’s Wedding Ring
How changing mores, cultural pressures, and, yes, the jewelry industry made two-ring wedding ceremonies the norm in America.