Llainfadyn cottage. This 1762 cottage is solidly-built of mountain boulders, and a pair of stout oak trusses supports the roof of small, locally-quarried slates.

Vernacular Architecture in Wales

The pioneering collection of farm and craft buildings at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff preserves traditional design and building techniques.
From a Russian poster from 1920

The Birth of the Soviet Union and the Death of the Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution promised—and for a time delivered—freedom to the peoples of the Tsarist Empire. That freedom ended with the creation of the USSR.
Two men of the French Foreign Legion, 1955

OK Recruiter: The Legion is Coming

Anxieties over the abduction of young men into the French Foreign Legion after WWII reflected West Germany’s concerns about the state of their nation.
An illustration of claqueurs from an 1853 issue of Harper's Magazine

When Paid Applauders Ruled the Paris Opera House

Professional applauders, collectively known as the “claque,” helped mold the tastes of an uncertain audience.
Yellow Jacobins

Our Long-Running Love Affair with Pigeons

Through crazes of pigeon-fancying, these birds have been reshaped into a dizzying variety of forms.
Lovers of the Sun by Henry Scott Tuke

The Market Will Bare It: Transnational Nude Tourism

As Europeans recovered from the devastation of World War II, nude beaches appeared in France.
nazi german radio

An Affordable Radio Brought Nazi Propaganda Home

In the 1930s, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels led the charge to create a radio cheap enough that even workers could own one.
Chicken Tikka and lamb samosas

Indian Food is Not a Monolith

When you eat Indian food, what are you really eating? Chicken tikka masala was originally created to appease the palates of the British during the Raj.
Sophie Scholl

Sophie Scholl and the Legacy of Resistance

Sophie Scholl has become the face of resistance to Nazism. That took decades, as the legacy of resistance itself was resisted.
Murió la Verdad (The Death of Truth)

The Collapse of Meaning in a Post-Truth World

2016 was certainly an unstable time in history. Even the way we use language to convey our collective fears about the state of society seems fractured.