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Cover of Orwell's "1984."

Here are the Biggest Fiction Bestsellers of the Last 100 Years

(And what everyone read instead.)
by Emily Temple via Literary Hub on November 27, 2018
Two nurses standing beside a soldiers bed during World War 1.

The Surprising Origins of Kotex Pads

Before the first disposable sanitary napkin hit the mass market, periods were thought of in a much different way.
by Kat Eschner via Smithsonian Magazine on November 9, 2018
Athleisure clothing items including a windbreaker, cap, sweatpants, and running shoe.

How Athleisure Conquered Modern Fashion

The sudden ubiquity of sportswear might seem a little odd. But almost every feature of modern fashion was once adapted from athletics.
by Derek Thompson via The Atlantic on October 28, 2018

Teaching the Rank and File

The history of the once-ubiquitous labor schools holds lessons for any future revival of working-class activism.
by William S. Cossen via Jacobin on September 24, 2018
To demonstrate Tupperware's patented seal, Brownie Wise tosses a bowl filled with water at a party.

The Story of Brownie Wise, the Ingenious Marketer Behind the Tupperware Party

Earl Tupper invented the container's seal, but it was a savvy, convention-defying entrepreneur who got the product line into the homes of housewives.
by Kat Eschner via Smithsonian Magazine on April 10, 2018

How Congress Used the Post Office to Unite the Nation

Trump says Amazon is scamming the USPS. But its low shipping rates were a game changer for rural America.
by Stephen Mihm via Bloomberg on April 4, 2018
Women with field hockey sticks in a physical education class circa 1920.

How the US College Went from Pitiful to Powerful

In its first century the American higher-education system was a messy, disorganised joke. How did it rise to world dominance?
by David Labaree via Aeon on October 11, 2017
Two Papasan chairs

Tracing the Elusive History of Pier 1's Ubiquitous 'Papasan' Chair

The bowl-shaped seat's conflicted heritage incorporates the Vietnam War.
by John Kelly via Atlas Obscura on July 17, 2017
partner

How Wrigley Chewed Its Way to Gum Greatness

William Wrigley, Jr. started selling soap and became a prodigy of consumerism.
by Erin Blakemore, Daniel Robinson via JSTOR Daily on May 11, 2017

When Squirrels Were One of America's Most Popular Pets

Benjamin Franklin even wrote an ode to a fallen one.
by Natalie Zarrelli via Atlas Obscura on April 28, 2017
Newspaper ad for milk, recommending "the active youngster" should "drink a quart a day."
partner

Got Milk?

The hosts discuss the transformation of milk from a dangerous, marginalized 19th Century dairy product, to a 20th Century superfood.
via BackStory on January 6, 2017
Shop window decorated with bride and groom mannequins and wedding paraphernalia, from Baum's "Show Window" magazine.
partner

The Wonderful Windows of Oz

The story of author L. Frank Baum’s very successful career creating other fantasy lands—department store windows.
via BackStory on December 15, 2016
Two kids eating ice cream

Thanks, Prohibition!

How the Eighteenth Amendment fueled America’s taste for ice cream.
by Rachel Van Bokkem via Perspectives on History on August 8, 2016
European fur traders trading rum to Native Americans
partner

Liquid Poison

American Indians and the tumult in their cultures precipitated by the arrival of alcohol.
via BackStory on January 1, 2016
A Black man in a hoodie.

The Hoodie and the Hijab

Arabness, Blackness, and the figure of terror.
by Leah Mirakhor via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 6, 2015
Man reading paper about gas rationing in front of a sign that reads "sorry no gasoline."
partner

1973 – The Year That Changed Everything

The story of the oil shocks of 1973 and how they continue to shape the world we live in today.
via BackStory on January 9, 2015

Lower the Voting Age!

Why 16 year-olds can help us heal our broken political system.
by Marco Roth via n+1 on November 1, 2008

Penny Dreadful

They’re horrid and useless. Why do pennies persist?
by David Dale Owen via The New Yorker on March 24, 2008
Silhouettes of people dancing at a techno music festival with colorful laser lights.

Machine Soul

A history of techno.
by Jon Savage via Hyperreal Music Archive on June 1, 1993

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