“A Time To Speak”: Annotated
On September 15, 1963, a bomb killed four Black children in Birmingham, Alabama. Who threw that bomb? Each of us, argued Birmingham lawyer Charles Morgan, Jr.
How Plate Tectonics Shook Life into Existence
The cycles of life all rely on the dynamism of the Earth’s crust.
Vanillagate? Ice Cream Parlors and White Slavery
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no more dangerous place for a young white woman than the ice cream parlor.
Electrifying the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Jewish immigrants and British authorities tried to sell electrification as a matter of business while Palestinian Arabs viewed it as a Zionist nation-building project.
Shine On You Eagle Diamond
The year 1893 was a big one for Eagle, Wisconsin. Workers found a huge diamond on the Devereaux farm: sixteen carats, uncut, and now, all these years later, missing.
The Home Science Labs of English Noblewomen
In the eighteenth century, elite women with a scientific bent often turned to distilling medicines, a craft that helped them participate in experimentation.
The Existentialism of Style vs. Substance
Camus, Sartre, and Beauvoir were misread, misunderstood, and misperceived by English-speaking readers due to interventions of publishers and editors.
Reaching New Spiritual Heights Through Hula Hooping
The post-World War II hula hooping craze is back...and this time it's got religion.
A Teen Celebrity in 1804
When thirteen-year-old actor William Henry West Betty arrived in London from Ireland, crowds mobbed theaters and camped outside his home.
The Carrington Event of 1859 Disrupted Telegraph Lines. A “Miyake Event” Would Be Far Worse
We don't know what causes Miyake events, but these great surges of energy can help us understand the past—while posing a threat to our future.