The lost dream of Soul City (Black Perspectives)
by Joshua Clark Davis
In 1969, Black Power advocate Floyd McKissick began building Soul City, a brand new multiracial community in North Carolina—with the help of the Nixon administration. A new book argues that we shouldn’t see the city’s ultimate failure as a sign that it was a doomed utopian enterprise from the beginning.

How historical are historical novels? (Perspectives on History)
by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Historical fiction isn’t just escapism. A history professor explains how it can help readers understand the past in ways that nonfiction may not capture.

The Thames is coming back to life (The Hill)
by Jenna Romaine
In 1957, London’s Thames River was declared “biologically dead” after centuries of abuse from the industrial, sewer-spewing city. Now, it’s home to a thriving array of species, including several kinds of sharks.

Life in the ‘society of children’ (Sapiens)
by Karen L. Kramer
In international and historical terms, kids in the U.S. spend a shocking amount of time in age-segregated spaces or small nuclear-family settings. What could we learn from societies that do things very differently?

The long afterlife of bad obesity science (Scientific American)
by Kelso Harper
Since 1994, doctors and journalists have been quoting statistics about huge numbers of deaths supposedly caused by obesity. Volumes of research have shown that they’re not accurate. So why won’t the myth die?

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