How 17th Century Unmarried Women Helped Shape Capitalism
Under coverture, married English women had no rights to their property, even though unmarried women did, making for a unique system in Europe.
The Scottish Sisters Who Pioneered Art Nouveau
Margaret and Frances Macdonald and their Glasgow School of Art classmates Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Harold MacNair were Art Nouveau's Glasgow Four.
Suggested Readings: Penguins, Traffic, and the FBI
Well-researched stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.
Supermalaria, Disaster Testing, and a Drop in Antibiotics Use
A new drug-resistant malaria strain is spreading in South-East Asia. Farmers may be using fewer anti-biotics. Engineers are studying national disasters.
Humans and Their Parasites
Parasitic diseases can be effectively eliminated, but they can persist even in developed countries with effective healthcare systems.
An Ad Campaign for Ads
Back in the 1920s and ‘30s, the magazine Women’s Home Companion tried explicitly appealing to its readers to take the ads seriously.
The Great American Game of Picking the Great American Novel
Arguing about the great American novel was perfect fodder for periodicals in the late 1800s, and it is catnip for a listicle-obsessed internet.
10 Winter Poems To Cozy Up To
Settle in to the winter season with verse from Dylan Thomas, H.D., Pushkin, and more.
Super Mario, Homer’s Odyssey, and the Meaning of Marriage
Nintendo's Mario and Homer's Odysseus have more in common than you might think.
The Cooking Classes that Americanized Jewish Immigrants
At the end of the 19th century, a Wisconsin woman named Elizabeth “Lizzie” Black Kander tried to help immigrants assimilate, through the food they ate.