Dave the Potter’s Mark on History
An enslaved African American in South Carolina did the unthinkable, writing his name on the walls of his vessels—and forever inscribing history.
The Spy Who Shared My Foyer
Luminaries from Agatha Christie to Walter Gropius gravitated to London’s “Lawn Road Flats.” So too did a far less conspicuous cohort: assets for the USSR.
The Fungi-Mad Ladies of Long Ago
In mycology’s early days, botanical drawing was, for some women, a calling. Their mushroom renderings were key to establishing this new field.
Laughing Matters
Sophia McClennen, author of Trump Was a Joke, discusses how political satire decoded the chaos of the forty-fifth presidency.
Religion of the Devil, Philosophy of the Coiled Serpent
In yoga’s early days in the United States, skeptics warned it would lead people (e.g., women) of good faith and standing into paganism and ill repute.
Delts Don’t Lie
Renaissance artists routinely used men as models for their depictions of female subjects, yet only the musculatures of Michelangelo tell that story.
Digital Overload
How can contemporary biographers contend with the explosion of materials at their disposal?
Legacies Lost and Found
Say Anarcha tells the story of the enslaved women experimented on by a self-aggrandizing gynecologist. Its related online archive aims to reinvent the nature of bibliography.
The Partisans of Modena
The legacy of anti-Mussolini resistance in the northern Italian city endures as fascist impulses once again loom.
Annexation Nation
Since 1823, when the Monroe Doctrine was first introduced to the world, the US has regarded Cuba as key to its designs for Latin America.