Dubious Medicine on the Texas Frontier
If you got sick in the Texas frontier area in the decades before the Civil War, your options were all pretty bad.
What Is Punctuation For?
Between the medieval and modern world, the marks used to make writing more legible changed from “pointing” to punctuation.
Civilization Without Horses: The Epizootic of 1872
We’re all now too familiar with the words “pandemic” and “epidemic,” but how about “epizootic”?
Dreams in Islam
Even before the founding of Islam, Arabia was home to professional dream interpreters.
The “Refus Global”
Published in 1948 by the artist group Les Automatistes, the Refus Global manifesto challenged Québécois political, religious, and social traditions.
The Complicated Gender of Sumatran Tombois
Indonesian tombois are understood as men in many public contexts, but their families of origin often treat them as female in some respects and male in others.
The Unique History of the Meo Tribes of Mewat
The Meos are singled out as cow slaughterers by vigilantes, but their heritage combines Hindu cultural practices—including raising cattle—with the Islamic faith.
The Fourteenth Amendment: Annotated
Adopted in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution addresses citizenship rights, due process, and equal protection under the law.
Exporting Chinese Acrobats
Chinese acrobats have been impressing circus-goers at shows like Cirque du Soleil since the 1980s. How did these gymnastic marvels make their way to the West?
How Jim Crow Divided Florida’s Cubans
In the late nineteenth century, many Cuban immigrants supported racial equality. That began to change as white supremacist terrorism grew in intensity.