When Salad Was Manly AF
Esquire, 1940: “Salads are really the man’s department... Only a man can make a perfect salad.”
Fixing the Grassroots of the American Lawn
A citizen scientist bred low-mow, slow-grow grass that needs little water and fertilizer.
Hidden Poisons of the Royal Court
How noble lords and ladies, terrified of poison, unknowingly poisoned themselves on a daily basis.
Why the French Revolution’s “Rational” Calendar Wasn’t
What ever happened to "the most radical attempt in modern history to challenge the Western standard temporal reference framework?"
Lesbianism (!) at the Convent
Mother Superior Benedetta Carlini, a visionary nun of Renaissance Italy, was accused of heresy and “female sodomy.”
Who Gets to Make Commencement Speeches (and Why)?
Why are battles over just who gets the honor of toasting new graduates—and what they say—always so heated?
Treadmills Were Meant to Be Atonement Machines
America’s favorite piece of workout equipment was developed as a device for forced labor in British prisons. It was banned as cruel and inhumane by 1900.
The Race to Save the Axolotl
When an axolotl loses a limb, it regrows, and nary a scar remains. But this incredible creature is on the brink of extinction.
Michelle Dean: A Sharp Look at Criticism by Women
Dean on the obstacles women face in being taken seriously as intellectuals, feminist infighting, and the importance of being an outsider.
George Washington’s “Yelp Reviews”
Staying at inns allowed Washington to examine the state of the infrastructure for traveling in the new federal Republic. The only problem was, he hated it.