The Leader of the Luddites

Why Luddites Are Fashionable Again

Today we call anyone with a flip phone a Luddite. But the term has radical origins.
A stack of books by Virginia Woolf

Was Modernism Meant to Keep the Working Classes Out?

In the 19th century, more working class readers started partaking in contemporary fiction. Modernist literature, however, was specifically not for them.
A woman in the kitchen of her mobile home in New Ulm, Minnesota, 1974

Class and the Glass Ceiling

Feminism and "women's work" have looked very different for U.S. women depending on their class.
Riverdale Courts, Toronto

The Social Engineering of Affordable Housing

Pushes for affordable housing, and even social engineering be it Silicon Valley in 2016, or Toronto in 1912.
Second graders working on desktop computers

Which Kids Get Help in Class?

Addressing which students receive the most help.
A kitchen table full of chopped vegetables and spices

A Plan to Get the Poor to Eat Healthy Food—in the 1890s

Early efforts to get Americans to eat healthy food started with targeting poor citizens.
Black and white drawing of a busy street from the 1800's in Chicago

The Religious-Irreligious Divide in Working Class Chicago

The struggle for the standard eight-hour workday in Chicago was a bitter one.
View from the back row at the movies

Why Go to the Movies?

In 2014, attendance at the movies hit its lowest level in two decades.