Hunter-gatherers tended to think of pets as part of the family, and so do we. But in other time periods, intimacy with animals has been more taboo.
History
Posted inHistory, Nonfiction, Quotes
To Be a Lexicographer Is to Surrender to Folly
On the never-ending, unattainable quest to create the perfect English dictionary.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction
Determined to Hitch a Ride on the Greatest Rig in America
Billy Gawronski was hell-bent on stowing away to Antarctica on Richard Evelyn Byrd’s 1928 expedition.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Story
Determined to Hitch a Ride on the Greatest Rig in America
Billy Gawronski was hell-bent on stowing away to Antarctica on Richard Evelyn Byrd’s 1928 expedition.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, History, Quotes
A Mother’s Less-Than-True Story of Being a Child Bride
Getting married in her swimsuit at the age of 12 was something Danny Wallace’s mother would tell anyone she met. It also wasn’t true.
Posted inHistory, Story
Watching a Fall
The allure and shame of watching America’s last public hanging.
Posted inHistory, Nonfiction, Quotes
Maybe Your House Can Be “Most Congenial”
Richard Wallace considers his chances (not great) at being memorialized by a blue English Heritage plaque.
Posted inHistory, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
New York Radical Women and the Limits of Second Wave Feminism
The collective redefined feminism in the 1970s, but it’s blind spots still linger, especially for black women.
Posted inArts & Culture, History, Nonfiction, Story
The Real Refugees of Casablanca
When it came to gathering refugees, the waiting room of the U.S. consulate was probably the closest thing to Rick’s Café Américain.