Essays
The Blues Behind Bars: How Southern prisons shaped American music
Incarcerated musicians have crafted some of the most iconic songs in American music history while prisons reap the profits.
Published by Scalawag
In Defense of the Yugo
Derided as the world’s worst car, the communist Yugoslavia–made Yugo admittedly had some serious problems. But it also had spirit and a vision to aspire to: a fuel-efficient vehicle that ordinary working-class people could afford.
Published by Jacobin
The ancient remains of Great Zimbabwe
The ancient city of Great Zimbabwe was an engineering wonder. But archaeologists credited it to Phoenicians, Babylonians, Arabians – anyone but the Africans who actually built it.
Published by BBC
This surprising new game wants to fix the worst thing about Risk
Inspired by Caribbean history and Hamilton, Liberation-Haiti is pioneering a different type of tabletop game.
Published by Inverse
The Columbus Way’s Great Roadblock
Columbus, Ohio is facing a slow-boiling transit crisis that will shape the city for decades to come. How it got here is important to understanding the solutions it’s trying to implement — and whether they will be enough.
Published by Midstory
American Companies Are Profiting Off of Labor Camps in Xinjiang
Here’s how we can start holding them accountable.
Published by The Progressive Magazine
Opinion
ChatGPT Isn’t Coming for Your Coding Job
The KKK became one of the most powerful social and political movements in the US.
Published by Teen Vogue
Op-Ed
Anti-apartheid divestment built a movement of people. That’s what the climate crisis needs.
Published by The Los Angeles Times
We Need to Build a Strong Peace Movement. The Anti-Apartheid Movement Can Show Us How.
In 1986, activists convinced Congress to pass sanctions on South Africa over the veto of President Ronald Reagan. Their victory holds six key lessons today.
Published by In These Times
Why Can’t You Just Keep Doing Your Research on the Side?
I get this one a lot. My friends back in the academy want me to keep researching and maintaining a scholarly output. Increasingly, professional societies want this too.
Published by Contingent Magazine
Why I Quit Academe for a Coding Boot Camp
With the tenure-track market stalled, a history Ph.D. was urged to pursue Plan B. Unfortunately, he says, the alt-ac career trajectory is broken too.
Published by The Chronicle of Higher Education
4 Lessons on Organizing From the Anti-Apartheid Movement
This op-ed talks about what the anti-apartheid movement has to teach us about effecting change.
Published by Teen Vogue
Food Writings
South Africa’s Most Important Dish Is Also Its Most Historical
Beyond its sweet, tangy, and spicy flavors, Bobotie is a dish that shares the storied history of South African immigrants in Cape Town.
Published by Fodors
How Kona coffee became one of Hawaii’s most recognizable products
Apart from pineapples and macadamia nuts, Kona coffee might be the most recognizable Hawaiian product to reach consumers on the mainland.
Published by SFGate
The Tumultuous, World-Traveling Origins of Piri Piri Sauce
What is piri piri sauce, also sometimes referred to as peri-peri or pili-pili?
Published by Thrillist
The US pepper that was nearly lost
Once grown almost solely by enslaved people, the fish pepper was nearly lost forever until a chance find in a freezer revived the plant and it’s now more popular than ever.
Published by BBC
Zeb Larson 