Livia Gershon

The wildly popular books helped people understand farming and health through the movement of the planets, in a way compatible with Protestantism.

The story of the 1890 massacre was often about the end of Native American resistance to US expansion. But that’s not how everyone told it.

The measure of thermal energy expended by exercise was adapted from the study of explosives and engines.

Colonial education administrators recruited teachers from the mainland, but soon realized another strategy was in order.

In the Great Depression, Borden sought a new spokescow to help preserve its traditional agrarian image.

In 1790, U.S. men were about twice as likely as U.S. women to be literate. But by 1870, girls were surpassing boys in public schools.

Southern legal codes included parallel language pairing “master and slave” and “husband and wife.”

The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.

Between 1870 and 1960, Christianity declined dramatically across much of Europe. Not in America. One historian explains why.

When Silent Spring was published, the response was overtly gendered. Rachel Carson's critics depicted her as hysterical, mystical, and witchy.

Scholars don't typically pay that much attention to smells, but odors have historically been quite significant.

At the turn of the century, Chicago police killed 307 people, one in eighteen homicides in the city—three times the body count of local gangsters.

In the late 19th century, more women were becoming librarians. Experts predicted they would suffer ill health and breakdowns.

Growth is only worth something if it makes people feel good.

Whether we consider the sounds of nature to be pleasant or menacing depends largely on our ideologies.

Why did David Clark campaign to keep kids working in the early 20th century? For one thing, it benefited his interests.

A historian looked at the consumer movements of the 1930s to find out.

Sunday school was a major part of nineteenth century reformers’ efforts to improve children’s lives and morals.

A 1942 glossary documents the origins of terms like "punk," "haywire," and "skidroad."

For most of American history, Washington's Birthday was a really big deal, but that’s changed a lot since the middle of the twentieth century.

Black Muslims have been an influential force in the prisoners' rights movement and criminal justice reform.

How today's media landscape was shaped by a 1920s decision to privilege corporate broadcasters over noncommercial ones.

How did truckers nudge the American economy toward deregulation?

The lasting influence of "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese."