On September 30, 2019, medieval historian Ruth Karras launched a poll on Twitter. “What medieval woman should I nominate,” she […]
Justice and Agency: Why Women Love True Crime
When I was young, I was obsessed with Unsolved Mysteries. While not typically a “go-to” show for an eight-year-old, my […]
“Charlie Says” and the Santa Cruz Prison Project
Joan Didion, Again “Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969.” […]
Armchair Detectives and the Allure of Death in Miniature at the Smithsonian
It was one of the coldest January days in recent memory, but that didn’t seem to deter the crowds inside […]
Complicating the Canon of the First World War: A Review of Ellen La Motte’s Backwash of War, edited by Cynthia Wachtell
Think back on any syllabi of the First World War and the literature represented in it. For me, those titles […]
Japan’s Once and Future Female Emperors
With the abdication today of the Japanese emperor, Akihito, and the passage of the throne to his son, talk has […]
Hallmark Christmas Movies: Guilty Pleasure or Feminist Rallying Cry?
A woman arrives in a small American town at Christmas time. Possibly her car has broken down, or she’s there […]
How the “Advisory State” Shapes American Bodies and Politics: A Conversation with Rachel Louise Moran
In her new book Governing Bodies: American Politics and the Shaping of the Modern Physique, historian Rachel Louise Moran examines […]
Searching for a Warm Home: Women and the Italian Refugee Crisis of World War I
In a 1918 article about aid programs for refugee women and children in Italy, Ernesta Fasciotti recalled an encounter with […]
The Proof of Pregnancy
In February 1819, the Caswell County Superior Court in North Carolina tried three white women for infanticide. At issue was […]
