Louisiana Rien Fertel explores the complex history of New Orleans’ flambeaux — the men who carry the torches that light the way for Mardi Gras parades — in Oxford American.
History
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
An Emotional Tour of History: Naming Lakes After the Fallen
Des Kappel is the toponymist in charge of naming the 90,000 remaining land features and lakes in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Kappel’s work is often an emotional tour through history as he collects letters and photos of war casualties for his database.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Where to Hide Dead Bodies and Thieves: the Laundry Chute
Dead bodies, thieves, skulls, and historical bits of ephemera that fly out of pockets on the passage down are just some of the hidden secrets that laundry chutes reveal.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Holocaust’s Great Escape
A remarkable discovery in Lithuania — an escape tunnel from the Nazi killing site at Ponar — brings a legendary tale of survival back to life.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Business of Being a Feminist Bookstore
Running a bookstore is hard enough, but the business of feminist bookstores is deeply entwined with both politics and money.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
It’s Wednesday, So This Must Be the Vice President’s House
Historian Merry Ellen Scofield, writing in Common-Place, dives deep into the intricacies of 19th century social etiquette: calling cards, the hierarchies and politics of who visits who and when, and the details of the cards themselves.
Posted inEditor's Pick
House of Cards: The Politics of Calling Card Etiquette in Nineteenth-Century Washington
In the early republic, social media had its own crucial importance — although what the media employed was not the tweet, but little bits of pasteboard.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Eastern Europe: Beyond the Cold War, and Beyond the Stereotypes
The homogenizing force of globalization means that a shopping center in Budapest doesn’t look all that different from one central Turin, or York, or Cleveland. Is “Eastern Europe” as an idea disappearing? Try Jacob Mikanowski’s essay in the LA Review of Books for some suggestions (and some objections).
Posted inEditor's Pick
Goodbye, Eastern Europe!
Is “Eastern Europe” disappearing? Was it ever real, or just a figment of Cold War imaginations?
Posted inBooks, Business & Tech, Nonfiction, Quotes
The Early Principles That Guided the Makers of LEGO
In his book Brick by Brick, David Robertson outlines the early successes and failures of the Denmark-based LEGO Group.