The Secret Syndicate behind Nancy Drew
If you remember your grade-school reading log, the Nancy Drew mysteries are by Carolyn Keene. Only she never existed.
It’s Time to Reinvent Food Waste!
Startups worldwide convert refuse into energy, biomaterials, and more food.
The Plan to Sell Texas to Great Britain
Stephen Pearl Andrews, a lawyer, Houston socialite, and abolitionist, concocted a plan to free Texas' slaves—with a hint of treason.
The Gunpowder Plot, Redux
The cultural meaning of Guy Fawkes’ conspiracy to blow up the House of Lords has shifted, from countercultural symbol to HBO drama.
Can Re-Clamming Our Harbors Keep Superstorms at Bay?
Hurricanes like Sandy destroy coastlines. Clams and oysters help keep them together.
Do We Have to Tell Them the House Is Haunted?
On the law and mythologies of haunting, from antiquity to today.
Jill Lepore: How to Respond to the Crisis of Our Institutions
Lepore talks about presidential deceit, why women are often forgotten by history, and the “epistemological crisis” of our era.
The Great Seaweed Invasion
In the Caribbean, sargassum deposits have grown to unprecedented sizes, obscuring the sand and turning nearshore waters into seething sargassum soup.
Why Are U.S. Borders Straight Lines?
The ever-shifting curve of shoreline and river is no match for the infinite, idealized straight line.