Publication Title

Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History

Mr. Knightley and Emma Woodhouse, from Jane Austen's Emma

Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics

Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.

Jenny Lind the Swedish Nightingale. Poster from the collection of the University of Sheffield.

Arts & Culture

Superfans in the Nineteenth Century

Americans have long obsessed over their favorite musicians.

Editors' Picks

Arts & Culture

Do We Have to Tell Them the House Is Haunted?

On the law and mythologies of haunting, from antiquity to today.

Education & Society

Does Dark Tourism Exploit Tragedy for Profit?

Thanatourism, as one scholar calls it, has a long history. And some historic sites of mass death do offer thoughtful educational experiences.

Politics & History

What Do Sugar Skulls Mean on El Día de los Muertos?

The iconography of Mexico's Día de los Muertos has become wildly popular outside Latino communities. But where did the skulls and skeletons come from?

Politics & History

Ectoplasm and the Last British Woman Tried for Witchcraft

Spiritualist medium Helen Duncan was photographed emitting ectoplasm, supposedly proof of her ability to contact the dead.

Politics & History

From Samhain to Halloween

Exploring the Celtic origins of everyone's favorite harvest holiday celebrating thresholds between life and death.

Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics

Superfans in the Nineteenth Century

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