When Did We Start Shopping at Stores?
Online shopping drastically reduces the significance of physical stores. Where did the physical retail model come from to begin with?
When Virginia Woolf Wore Blackface
In February 1910, Virginia Woolf, her brother, and some and friends pulled a prank known to history as the Dreadnought Hoax.
Will Optimistic Stories Get People to Care About Nature?
Research shows that negative messaging is not the most effective way forward.
Marguerite Duras on Her Remarkable Mother
Noted novelist and screenwriter Marguerite Duras on how her fictional mothers are all really her own (complicated, difficult, inimitable) mother.
The Many Different Annes of Green Gables
Anne Shirley, created almost 100 years ago, has been reimagined countless times. Why do we still love Lucy Maud Montgomery's plucky orphan?
Our Lady of Political Anxiety
From Our Lady of Fatima to the 1949 Virgin Mary sighting in Wisconsin, what do Marian sightings reveal about our political anxieties?
How Wrigley Chewed Its Way to Gum Greatness
William Wrigley, Jr. started off as a soap salesman and became a prodigy of consumerism. He sold Americans chewing gum with claims of health benefits.
Why Don’t We Consider Fish Worth Saving?
Until recently, Americans did not generally consider fish to be wildlife. As a result, conservation measures for them got a late start.
The Ugly Origins of America’s Involvement in the Philippines
The American use of torture, then called the “water cure,” in the Philippines during the war of 1899–1902 shocked some Americans of the day.
Can Fiction Really Spark Suicide?
The Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why is so powerful—and so controversial—it's sparked a national debate about teenage suicide.