Germain soldiers holding the perimeter around a tank during a time of political unrest during the Weimar Era.

Democide: An Inside Job?

The biggest enemy of democracy? It may be democracy itself.
An illustration depicting two regency-era women speaking with an iMessage bubble

Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload?

Racking up likes and followers today resembles the nonstop friending of 19th-century England. But Austen's characters figured out how to disengage.
Brothers Grimm

The Fairytale Language of the Brothers Grimm

How the Brothers Grimm went hunting for fairytales, accidentally changed the course of historical linguistics, and kickstarted a new field of scholarship in folklore.
AP Images

Greece in Crisis: Foucault and The Nuance of Power

Without a more nuanced understanding of the power dynamics at play, economic coercion will fail to bring Greece back into the European fold.
Byzantine illustration from the 9th century; a robed figure is destroying an icon.

A Short Guide to Iconoclasm in Early History

In the 8th century, the Eastern or Orthodox branch of Christianity gave history the word iconoclasm, from the Greek words for "icon smashing."