Bylines

Scott Wasserman Stern

Illustration of multiple people drawing the same cover of a book

Big Publishing Killed the Author

How corporations wrested creative control from writers and editors—to produce less interesting books.
Black and white photograph of a man. The main has his hair styled to point upwards, and a tattoo of the word Mississippi on his back.

Where Does the South Begin?

A new history cuts against stereotypes, to show a region constantly changing—and whose future is up for grabs.
Mountain with both living and dead trees.
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Did Montana Violate Its Residents’ Right To a Clean Environment?

A new lawsuit builds on 50 years of history in environmental activism.
Emissions from Union Carbide’s Ferro-Alloy Plant, Charleston, West Virginia, May 1973

The Lost Promise of Environmental Rights

As environmental rights seem on the verge of a comeback, it’s worth remembering why they once seemed so promising, and why that promise remains unfulfilled.
Technology and California graphic.

Blame Palo Alto

From Stanford to Silicon Valley, a small town in California spread tech’s gospel of data and control.
A plantation worker harvests palm oil fruits in Riau, Indonesia.

The Story of Palm Oil Is a Story About Capitalism

Palm oil is in everything, but it is also enmeshed in global supply chains that rely on brutal working conditions and the destruction of the planet.
DDT being sprayed at Jones Beach in New York in 1945.

The Problem With Silent Spring Environmentalism

A new history of the environmental movement places too much emphasis on famous figures like Rachel Carson and shies away from confronting failures.
Cover of "Bad Gays" book, with subtitle "A Homosexual History" superimposed over a Roman statue's mouth and beard.

What History’s “Bad Gays” Can Tell Us About the Queer Past and Present

A new book examines explores the ways that an uncritical celebration of “good” gays and “good” gayness can cause harm.
The Detroit Renewable Power waste incinerator

Dire Straits

A new history of Detroit’s struggles for clean air and water argues that municipal debt and austerity have furthered an ongoing environmental catastrophe.
A woman spraying DDT aerosol on her windows to keep insects at bay, 1955.

DDT Is Still With Us, 50 Years Since It Was Banned

Scientists have found toxic levels of the chemical at large. And some groups are making the case to produce even more.
Collage: a pair of arms wraps around collections of newspapers reporting on AIDS and plays guitar strings.

An AIDS Activist's Archive

June Holmes was in her late twenties, working as a social worker on Long Island, when she first heard about “this thing called AIDS.”
Illustration of Clarence Thomas in front of factory

The Radicalization of Clarence Thomas

His time working for Monsanto and other polluting industries helped make him the fierce conservative he is today.
A worker entering the U.S. Steel Clairton Works in Clairton, Pennsylvania.

A Rust Belt City’s New Working Class

Heavy industry once drove Pittsburgh’s economy. Now health care does—but without the same hard-won benefits.
A mug shot of Linda Taylor

COVID-19 and Welfare Queens

Fears about “undeserving” people receiving public assistance have deep ties to racism and the policing of black women’s bodies.

Don’t Look For Patient Zeros

Naming the first people to fall sick often leads to abuse.

How War Made the Cigarette

A new book explores the tangled politics behind a global addiction.