Lonely Diarist of the High Seas
As ship stewardess, Ella Sheldon tended to upper-crust women onboard and battled a range of workplace demons. Her journals tell her story.
Tristan da Cunha: The Longest Trip
Accessible only by ship, the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha hosts a resilient human population—and heck of a lot of rock lobsters.
Ford’s Striking Dagenham Women
The women sewing machinists of the Dagenham plant received a raise after they went on strike against Ford. But was this a victory?
Gibraltar: Where Two Worlds Meet, the Monkeys Roam
Home to the genetically unique Barbary macaques, Gibraltar serves up an intriguing mix of European cultures to residents and tourists alike.
The Toadmen, Masters of Equine Magic
A strange initiation ritual involving a toad was required for members of a secret caste of nineteenth-century horse mystics.
What Really Made 1950s Housewives So Miserable
Where did the image of the quietly desperate stay-at-home mother come from?
The Re-Release of a Classic
A new American edition of Ronald Blythe's Akenfield reminds us why it became one of the founding texts of oral history.
Salvage and Savior: Noah Purifoy’s Assemblage
Noah Purifoy transformed the wreckage from the 1965 Watts riots into art, and in doing so, he transformed much more.
Hearing Harriet Smith
In the University of Texas library, our writer found a previously unknown audiotape of an interview with a woman who'd been born into slavery.