The French Revolution as Illuminati Conspiracy
The Illuminati was a real secret society. But in the hands of British conservatives during the French Revolution, it became a massive conspiracy.
Vulgarity: An Alternative Language of the People
Was Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue the font of all popular culture studies?
The Man Whose Face Got Stuck Like That
No one could have predicted Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s turn to the bizarre.
A Mini History of the Tiny Purse
The purse has always been political, a reflection of changing economic realities and gender roles.
The Metamorphosis of a 17th-Century Insect Artist
Maria Sibylla Merian's work in the natural sciences was overlooked for centuries. Now a rare butterfly has been named in her honor.
The Gender-Bending Style of Yankee Doodle’s Macaroni
The outlandish "macaroni" style of 18th-century England blurred the boundaries of gender, as well as class and nationality.
When Scientists Perform Experiments on Themselves
More than one self-experiment has resulted in a Nobel Prize. Against all odds, and sometimes in spite of the damage they cause, these crazy gambits pay off.
How Facebook Revived the Epistolary Friendship
Would today's online, social media-based friendships look familiar to the letter-writing friends of earlier centuries, when epistolary friendships were also common?