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L'Envoûteuse (The Sorceress) by Georges Merle, 1883
Education & Society

Feminism’s Hidden Spiritual Side

Sometimes the pursuit of gender equality requires a little witchcraft.

Black Radicals

Cedric Robinson

Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition

Cedric Robinson proposed that the Black radical tradition was necessitated into existence by “racial capitalism.”

Roundup

An illustration of a thanksgiving table

Thanksgiving Stories

Turkey or Tofurkey? Stuffing or dressing? Whatever the controversy, these Thanksgiving stories will slake your appetite!

Cabinet of Curiosities

A view of the outlet of the Cloaca Maxima by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, ca. 1776

Venus of the Sewers

The Roman sewer, the Cloaca Maxima, was presided over by a goddess whose shrine stood near the Forum.

Open Community Collections

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: A History in Pictures

In 1927, the parade replaced live animals with helium balloons designed by puppeteer Tony Sarg.
Christine Jorgenson
Politics & History

A History of Transphobia in the Medical Establishment

At a time when trans people who wanted surgery needed to trust doctors, transphobia made it difficult.
A large group of Native Americans stage a protest over land rights by occupying the Bureau of Indian Affairs building and steps in front, Washington DC, November 6, 1972.
Roundup

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

A collection of our recent stories in celebration of American Indian Heritage Month.

Most Recent

Two devadesis in Chennai, India, in the 1920s.
Politics & History

How South Asian Temple Dancers Fought Moral Reform

Devadāsīs appealed to a longstanding tradition to argue that they had a legitimate position in their modernizing nation.
Cicero denouncing Catiline, by John Leech, from: The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott A Beckett, circa 1850
Politics & History

In Rome, Mourning Clothes as Political Resistance

In Ancient Rome, swapping one’s regular toga for the dirty, drab robes associated with mourning could request mercy, or communicate resistance.
Photograph: Amphibians of La Escalera Region, Southeastern Venezuela Source: WIkimedia Commons
Plants & Animals

Why the History of Science Should Matter to Scientists

Two historians consider the field of taxonomy to ask what history can provide science at the bench level.
A postcard advertising Rev. Dr. Bow Weevil, a Rooster Channel Jumper
Politics & History

How Black CB Radio Users Created an Audible Community

CB radio was portrayed as a mostly white enthusiasm in its heyday, but Black CB users were active as early as 1959.

More Stories

Black Radicals

Cedric Robinson

Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition

Cedric Robinson proposed that the Black radical tradition was necessitated into existence by “racial capitalism.”

Roundup

An illustration of a thanksgiving table

Thanksgiving Stories

Turkey or Tofurkey? Stuffing or dressing? Whatever the controversy, these Thanksgiving stories will slake your appetite!

Cabinet of Curiosities

A view of the outlet of the Cloaca Maxima by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, ca. 1776

Venus of the Sewers

The Roman sewer, the Cloaca Maxima, was presided over by a goddess whose shrine stood near the Forum.

Open Community Collections

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: A History in Pictures

In 1927, the parade replaced live animals with helium balloons designed by puppeteer Tony Sarg.

Trending

Illustration: Reconstruction drawing of public Latrine at Forum Hadriani, Germania Inferior, Netherlands Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/9548853868
Politics & History

The Early History of Human Excreta

When humans stopped being nomadic, we could no longer walk away from our waste. We’ve been battling it ever since.
A soldier in shadow, holding a gun
American Prison Newspapers 1880-2020

How Veterans Created PTSD

Now a cultural staple, PTSD is a newer diagnosis. How have conceptions of trauma morphed and what does it mean for US institutions and society?
English Herbarium
Education & Society

Herbs & Verbs: How to Do Witchcraft for Real

Like for real real.

Long Reads

Illustration: Reconstruction drawing of public Latrine at Forum Hadriani, Germania Inferior, Netherlands Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/9548853868
Politics & History

The Early History of Human Excreta

When humans stopped being nomadic, we could no longer walk away from our waste. We’ve been battling it ever since.
A soldier in shadow, holding a gun
American Prison Newspapers 1880-2020

How Veterans Created PTSD

Now a cultural staple, PTSD is a newer diagnosis. How have conceptions of trauma morphed and what does it mean for US institutions and society?
Daniel Craig in No Time to Die
Arts & Culture

Why James Bond Villains Prefer Post-Soviet Architecture

In No Time to Die, Bond blows up the villain’s post-Soviet missile silo—just as he does every other modernist building he encounters.
An abstract spectrum of colored dots on a black background that cohere together to represent sound waves or a music equalizer.
Arts & Culture

How to Hear Images and See Sounds

Artists Shannon Finnegan and Andy Slater talk accessibility, transdimensional hearing, alt-text as poetry, sound descriptions, and Instagram captions for McSweeney’s Audio Issue.

Editors' Picks

Arts & Culture

How We Escape It: An Essay

Escape is an ancient word, escapism, a modern one, and the designation of a genre—“escape literature”—dates to the 1930s.
Politics & History

How Commonly Was Smallpox Used as a Biological Weapon?

Once introduced into the Americas, smallpox spread everywhere. Is it possible to know how often that was done intentionally to kill people?
Politics & History

A History of Transphobia in the Medical Establishment

At a time when trans people who wanted surgery needed to trust doctors, transphobia made it difficult.
Politics & History

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month

A collection of our recent stories in celebration of American Indian Heritage Month.
Business & Economics

The Work Life of Transpeople

How transpeople actively do and undo gender in the workplace.

Performing Arts

Olivia Rodrigo performs onstage during the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center on September 12, 2021

Thank You, Tweens, for Your Pop Music Icons

Olivia Rodrigo is only the latest star to emerge from the wonderful world of Disney.
A poster for Tango!, 1933

How Women Singers Subverted Tango’s Masculinity

In the hands of performers known as cancionistas, the genre known for its machismo was transformed.
Eileen Southern

The Work of Pioneering Musicologist Eileen Southern

The scholarship of Black music was transformed by Southern's work, and is now being honored by a new initiative.

Audio Stories

An abstract spectrum of colored dots on a black background that cohere together to represent sound waves or a music equalizer.

How to Hear Images and See Sounds

Artists Shannon Finnegan and Andy Slater talk accessibility, transdimensional hearing, alt-text as poetry, sound descriptions, and Instagram captions for McSweeney’s Audio Issue.
Oak tree

What Does a Tree See?

A hundred-year-old red oak in a Massachusetts forest told a writer and a team of scientists secrets about change over time.
The Bitter Potion by Adriaen Brouwer, ca. 1636 - 1638

Is Disgust Related to Morality?

The disgust response acts as a behavioral immune system, protecting us from disease, but produces strong reactions to perceived out-groups.

Columns

Etching: A wet nurse breast feeding the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.24839779

How Wet-Nursing Stoked Class Tensions

“[N]o man can justly doubt, that a childs mind is answerable to his nurses milk and manners.”
Derrick Bell by David Shankbone (2007)

What Is Critical Race Theory?

Critical race theory has become a focus of conservative legislation, often with little understanding of its meaning and history.
Marcus Garvey is shown in a military uniform as the "Provisional President of Africa" during a parade on the opening day of the annual Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World at Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City, 1922

Marcus Garvey’s Journey Began in Central America

Marcus Garvey left Jamaica unemployed, an anti-colonial trade unionist who British authorities considered dangerous.

It is certainly true that neither “Black” nor “radical” can be taken for granted, but the Black radical tradition truly is “Black.”

Cedric Robinson and the Black Radical Tradition

Reading Lists

An illustration of a revolver

Guns in America: Foundations and Key Concepts

This non-exhaustive list of readings on the role of guns in US history and society introduces the field as a subject of scholarly inquiry.
A view of part of the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim on January 28, 2020 in Maale Adumim, West Bank.

Settlements and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Background Reading

Scholarship about Israeli settlement in occupied Palestinian territories provides historical context for recent violence in the region.
Employees of Ottenheimer on strike for poor treatment

The Global History of Labor and Race: Foundations and Key Concepts

How have workers around the world sought to change their conditions, and how have racial divisions affected their efforts?

Syllabus

Planet Earth from Space

Climate Change: A Syllabus

A selection of stories to foster dialogue among students both inside and outside of the classroom.
Pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol following a rally with President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Politics and Power in the United States: A Syllabus

Historical and scholarly context for the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
"I Voted" stickers

Voting in American Politics: A Syllabus

From battles to expand the franchise to the mysteries of turnout, voting is one of the most important things to understand about U.S. politics.

Mathematics

Photo taken in the Bourbaki Congress of 1938 in Dieulefit

The Mathematical Pranksters behind Nicolas Bourbaki

Bourbaki was gnomic and mythical, impossible to pin down; his mathematics just the opposite: unified, unambiguous, free of human idiosyncrasy.
Karate chop

The Physics of Karate

A human hand has the power to split wooden planks and demolish concrete blocks. A trio of physicists investigated why this feat doesn't shatter our bones.
"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the East" by Florence Nightingale, 1858

Florence Nightingale, Data Visualization Visionary

The woman who revolutionized nursing was also a mathematician who knew the power of a visible representation of information.

Plants & Animals

Photograph: Amphibians of La Escalera Region, Southeastern Venezuela Source: WIkimedia Commons

Why the History of Science Should Matter to Scientists

Two historians consider the field of taxonomy to ask what history can provide science at the bench level.
An illustration of elderberry

Plant of the Month: Elderberry

The recent entrance of elderberry into mainstream success is marked by an increasing popular desire to engage with traditional, “natural” remedies.
E. O. Wilson, 2003

E. O. Wilson and Biodiversity

Everyone talks about biodiversity these days, but an entomologist just might be its fiercest advocate.

Religion

A demon beneath the foot of St. Michael

Where Demons Come From

They're Satan's minions, no?

How to Summon Spirits

The Spiritualist, a newspaper published from 1869-1882, is filled with tales of supernatural phenomena and tips for communicating with the dead.
Albert Raboteau

Albert Raboteau on Re-Enchanting the World

The late religion scholar suggested that to regain a sense of wonder, we should look to education.

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