Scott Wasserman Stern

John Andrew Jackson spent a night at Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home as he fled north. Why do so few traces of his visit remain?

Eleanor Roosevelt’s tacit support for a program that jailed sex workers suggests the limits of the elite-led reform efforts she championed.

How corporations wrested creative control from writers and editors—to produce less interesting books.

A new history cuts against stereotypes, to show a region constantly changing—and whose future is up for grabs.

A new lawsuit builds on 50 years of history in environmental activism.

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.

From Stanford to Silicon Valley, a small town in California spread tech’s gospel of data and control.

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.

A new history of the environmental movement places too much emphasis on famous figures like Rachel Carson and shies away from confronting failures.

A new book examines explores the ways that an uncritical celebration of “good” gays and “good” gayness can cause harm.

A new history of Detroit’s struggles for clean air and water argues that municipal debt and austerity have furthered an ongoing environmental catastrophe.