Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Speech: Annotated
Fifty-five years ago today, on March 31, 1968, US President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the country for almost forty-one minutes during Sunday prime time, in an era when there were...
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Annotated
On February 2, 1848, representatives of the governments of the United States and Mexico met in the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo to sign a treaty that would end Mexican-American War,...
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe: Annotated
Edgar Allan Poe, born on January 19, 1809, was a remarkably versatile writer who ventured across many fields of interest. His prolific output encompassed poetry, short stories, literary criticism, and...
Words for Birds
...evidence of existence. Puffins Seen Using Tools, Breaking Dumb-Puffin Stereotypes Liz Tracey February 2, 2020 Reputed to be a less intelligent bird species, puffins have been observed scratching themselves with...
Our Most Popular Stories of 2022
...have wondered if it was backed by scientific research. Beware the Ides of March. (But Why?) Liz Tracey March 15, 2022 Everybody remembers that the Ides of March was the...
Editors’ Picks of 2022
...“well-tempered” about this clavier, and what’s a “clavier,” anyway? Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech: Annotated Liz Tracey June 13, 2022 Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk...
The Treaty of Ghent: Annotated
On December 24, 1814, representatives of the United States and the British Empire met to sign the Treaty of Ghent that, once ratified, would end another war between them. The...
Children’s Fairy Tales and Feminine Beauty
...professor Liz Grauerholz looked into the prevalence of what they call “the feminine beauty ideal” in fairy tales. “Children’s fairy tales, which emphasize such things as women’s passivity and beauty,...
Moral Panics: A Syllabus
...(The Briggs Initiative): Annotated Liz Tracey October 28, 2022 Proposition 6, better known as the Briggs Initiative, was the first attempt to restrict the rights of lesbian and gay Americans...
Proposition 6 (The Briggs Initiative): Annotated
The history of LGBTQ+ rights in the United States can be seen as cyclical, as “just a little bit of History repeating.” Progress is made, then those who oppose this...