Empress Matilda, George R. R. Martin’s Muse
Like the fictional character she inspired, Matilda was at the center of a civil war, fighting her own relatives for control of the royal throne.
The Destructive Myth of the Universal Genius
Excusing bad behavior from actors viewed as exceptional has led to supremely destructive moments in history. How'd we get from da Vinci to Hitler?
Counting Orgasms With Marie Stopes
Before gall wasp expert Alfred Kinsey turned to the study of human sexuality, another biologist made her move.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
Putting Gay Men Back Into History
In the late nineteenth century, historian John Addington Symonds fought back against his colleagues’ refusal to acknowledge historical same-sex relationships.
The Evolution of the Mad Scientist
The crazed caricature of genius was largely inspired by now-debunked late-Victorian ideas about how species change.
What Does It Mean To Be German?
A German scholar's work on India, meant to foster European unity, instead may have sown the seed of nationalism.
Martin Luther’s Monsters
Prodigies, or monsters, were opaque and flexible symbols that signaled that God was sending some message.
Are Free Markets Fictional?
Back in the 1940s, when America's post-war economic system was taking shape, many popular economists agreed that “free markets” were a fiction.
New Graduates’ Favorite JSTOR Articles
When JSTOR saved the day...Recent college grads remember the articles that helped them with their research before graduation.