American athlete Nancy Voorhees clears the bar as she trains for the high jump event ahead of the 1922 Women's World Games, during a training session at Weequanic Park in Newark, New Jersey, 1922

Sport in America: A Reading List

Covering the colonial era to the present, this annotated bibliography demonstrates the topical and methodological diversity of sport studies in the United States.
Man Washing by Maximilien Luce

Bringing Personal Hygiene to France

France’s notorious disregard for washing gradually changed as military authorities and public schools promoted a modern regime of cleanliness.
Leukerbad, Switzerland

Madness on the Wind

The eerie effects of the Foehn—folklore or fact?
Vintage engraving of young girl pour her sick mother a cup of tea, 19th Century

The Dangers of Tea Drinking

In nineteenth century Ireland, tea could be a symbol of cultivation and respectability or ill health and chaos, depending on who was drinking it.
Older woman praying in an almost empty church.

Can Religion Be Helpful for People With Chronic Pain?

A group of researchers asked this question of a group of patients in secularized Western Europe.
A woman sunbather covers her face as she tans, June 1949 at Sea Island Resort, Georgia

The Meaning of Tanning

The popularity of tanning rose in the early twentieth century, when bronzed skin signaled a life of leisure, not labor.
A chemist examining a flask of urine

Early Doctors Diagnosed Disease by Looking at Urine

When uroscopy became trendy, it caused a minor scandal within the early medical profession.
Illustration of a woman walking in front of an overwhelming whirlpool in the sky

Overcoming the Gendered Pain Gap

More women than men experience chronic pain, and that pain is often dismissed in clinical settings. Can a new approach to language and close listening help?
A man sweeps cooked rice still in the husk into piles to dry at a rice mill July 18, 2008 in Srinigar, Bangladesh

Food Price Inflation and Health

Periods of concurrent economic downturn and high food price inflation can exacerbate health threats for infants and children in developing countries.
A 19th century advertisement for tomato seeds

Tomatoes as Medicine

Tomatoes, once believed by Americans to be poisonous, became an unquestioned staple of a healthy diet thanks to doctors and popular cookbooks.