Can We Live Without Air Conditioning?
Air conditioning is a profoundly paradoxical technology: the hotter it gets the more we use it, and the more we use it the hotter it gets.
How Women Crushed on One Another Back in the Day
Same-sex crushes and romantic friendships between college-age women were common throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Was Christine Jorgensen the Caitlyn Jenner of the 1950s?
“What is femininity anyway?” Jenner writes in her new book, The Secrets of My Life. Perhaps the famous trans woman Christine Jorgensen knew.
The Battle Over Confederate Heritage Month
A Southern governor has proclaimed April to be Confederate Heritage Month. But how can you celebrate the confederacy without mentioning slavery?
A Brief History of US Drinking
In 1770, the average colonial Americans consumed about three and a half gallons of alcohol per year, about double the modern rate.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the Retail Orgy in Film
On the film portrayals of women that equate consumption and love.
When Mexico Was Flooded By Immigrants
In the early nineteenth-century, Mexico had a problem with American immigrants.
Loving v. Virginia and the Origins of Loving Day
Loving Day celebrates the SCOTUS decision in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 which struck down the laws of the 16 states still forbidding interracial marriage.
Aaron Burr: Most Hated Man in American History
A more sympathetic look at Aaron Burr, the man who killed Alexander Hamilton.
