Give the Kids Their Documentaries

How 1492 Created the U.S.A.

While 1776 marks American political independence, the arrival of Christopher Columbus established lasting norms of resource extraction, human exploitation, and religious expansion that continue to shape modern society.

Why Does Botswana’s Democracy Work So Well?

In the village of Mosi (“Smoke” in English), a community of about 500 people in southern Botswana, the meeting began early in the afternoon. "We are small, but that doesn’t matter," one resident said of the 56 people in attendance at the kgotla, a word that describes both the meeting and the hut-style building in which it takes place.

The Messy Fight for Clean, Free Public Bathrooms

March Fong Fu’s 1970s crusade against pay toilets illustrates a historical shift in American public policy, highlighting how privatized solutions have failed to address systemic inequality and sanitation needs.

How Did People Go ‘No-Contact’ in the 1700s?

“My mother would not stop giving my wife criticism on every topic, career, diet, child care, home decorating, make up, clothes, and more. No amount of polite discussions, yelling, and threats by me made it stop. … So I cut mom out for the most part,” one Reddit user recently explained to another. This is just one post of thousands across social media featuring advice about the choice to go “low contact” or “no contact” with family members.

My 2030 Doomsday Plan for California

Your columnist will always be here for you, until the very end. Now that we know that the very end is coming soon—artificial general intelligence will kill us all by the close of this decade, according to those who work with artificial general intelligence—I am here to offer my fellow Californians a plan for our last days together.