What Do Gardens and Murder Have in Common?
Writers have long plotted murder mysteries in gardens of all sorts. What makes these fertile grounds for detective fiction?
Camellia sinensis: Labor and the Tea Plant
Consumed as tea around the world, Camellia sinensis raises questions about plantation labor practices and the environmental impact of monocultures.
Historian J.T. Roane Explores Black Ecologies
Considerations of climate change and environmentalism have for too long paid no mind to where Black people live and in what conditions.
Island in the Potomac
Steps from Georgetown, a memorial to Teddy Roosevelt stands amid ghosts of previous inhabitants: the Nacotchtank, colonist enslavers, and the emancipated.
The Cost of Inflation in Prison
In prisons across the country, the long history of legal forced labor intersects with present-day inflation.
Willie Mae Thornton Deserves Your Full Attention
In a meditative new biography, DJ and scholar Lynnée Denise examines the mysteries and trials in the life of the legendary performer.
Switchgrass: An Old Grass Gets a New Use
The perennial prairie grass used to cover large swaths of the American Midwest, creating vibrant ecosystems where birds, butterflies, and bison roamed.
Mother’s—and Others’—Milk
Said to bestow strength and beauty, to purify body and soul, and to yield success and happiness, milk’s image is as adulterated as the liquid itself.
Getting Pickled With Joseph Stalin
The Soviet dictator was notorious for hosting drinking parties where vodka loosened the inhibitions of associates and got them to reveal their secrets.
On Harvests and Histories
Almanacs from the Civil War era reveal how two sides of an embattled nation used data from the natural world to legitimize their claims to statehood.