Bylines

Josephine Livingstone

A noose hanging in front of the Capitol.

Why America Loves the Death Penalty

A new book frames this country’s tendency toward state-sanctioned murder as a unique cultural inheritance.

University History Departments Have a Race Problem

The alt-right is appropriating medieval studies and classical scholarship. What can academics do to stop them?

Hugh Hefner Was Never The Star of Playboy

Perhaps the only true generalization to make about Hefner is that he is given too much credit for his role in American history.

Racism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville

The weekend's demonstrators were the latest in a long line of American racists to ally themselves with an imagined Middle Ages.
Rows of typewriters in front of computers

How Literature Became Word Perfect

Before the word processor, perfect copy was the domain of the typist—not the literary genius.