What Rum and Cokes Have to do With War
What could be more American than a sugary soda mixed with a liquor made from sugar? The origins of rum and Coke is more problematic than you might expect.
How the American Civil War Shaped Marxism
Although Karl Marx never saw the U.S., he thought long and hard about how it fit into his theory, especially during the Civil War.
How Ancient Peoples Fed the Dead
4,000 years ago in what is now Jerusalem, someone was buried with a jar of headless toads. In fact, many ancient graves included food for the afterlife.
Alice Roosevelt: The Original First Kid
Alice Roosevelt set the tone for a more public first kid and laid the foundation for post-White-House activism like Chelsea Clinton’s.
What Star Trek: Discovery Can Tell Us About Tech and Social Progress
What makes Star Trek essential for any contemporary tech user is its role in helping us understand our relationship to technology.
The Most Important Rule for Startup Success
Startups often don't play by the rules. But a wifi-enabled juicer may have been "trying to solve a problem that didn't exist."
When Societies Put Animals on Trial
Animal trials were of two kinds: (1) secular suits against individual creatures; and (2) ecclesiastic cases against groups of vermin.
Why There’s A West Virginia
West Virginia declared its independence from the secessionist state of Virginia in the middle of the Civil War and became the 35th state.
Sentenced to Death (and Other Tales from the Dark Side of Language)
One cold morning in 1953, Derek Bentley, a nineteen-year-old youth in the wrong place with the wrong words, was hanged for a murder he did not commit.