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‘Yellowstone’ Highlights Montana’s Long-Forgotten Connection to the Confederacy
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‘Yellowstone’ Highlights Montana’s Long-Forgotten Connection to the Confederacy

The popular “Yellowstone” TV series, set and filmed in Montana, taps into a lesser-known chapter of the state’s history: its settlement by Confederates and ex-Confederates during and after the Civil War. I come to this story with a unique perspective. I’m a fourth-generation Montanan. I’m also a scholar of U.S. Western literary and cultural studies...

Take Celebrations to New Heights with Cristalino Tequila
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Take Celebrations to New Heights with Cristalino Tequila

Break out your best glassware and take your celebration to the next level with a trending tequila style that’s sure to wow guests with its bright, smooth and elevated expressions. Whether you’re honoring a special occasion, celebrating a holiday or simply looking to entertain, Cristalino, Mexico’s No. 1 style of tequila, can elevate all of your...

How Beef Became a Marker of American Identity
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How Beef Became a Marker of American Identity

Beef is one of America’s most beloved foods. In fact, today’s average American eats three hamburgers per week. American diets have long revolved around beef. On an 1861 trip to the United States, the English novelist Anthony Trollope marveled that Americans consumed twice as much beef as Englishmen. Through war, industry, development and settlement, America’s...

As More Americans Go ‘No Contact’ with Their Parents, They Live Out a Dilemma at the Heart of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’
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As More Americans Go ‘No Contact’ with Their Parents, They Live Out a Dilemma at the Heart of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’

Is blood thicker than water? Should family always come first? These clichés about the importance of family abound, despite the recognition that familial relations are oftentimes hard, if not downright dysfunctional. But over the past few years, a discussion has emerged about a somewhat taboo move: cutting ties altogether with family members deemed “toxic.” Called...

Verified Users on Social Media Networks Drive Polarization and the Formation of Echo Chambers
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Verified Users on Social Media Networks Drive Polarization and the Formation of Echo Chambers

When X (formerly Twitter) changed its verification system in 2022, many foresaw its potential to impact the spread of political opinions on the platform. In a modeling study, researchers show that having verified users whose posts are prioritized by the platform’s algorithms can result in increased polarization and trigger the formation of echo chambers. Because...

How Dogs Were Implicated During the Salem Witch Trials
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How Dogs Were Implicated During the Salem Witch Trials

I teach a course on New England witchcraft trials, and students always arrive with varying degrees of knowledge of what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Nineteen people accused of witchcraft were executed by hanging, another was pressed to death and at least 150 were imprisoned in conditions that caused the death of at least...

How a Witch-Hunting Manual & Social Networks Helped Ignite Europe’s Witch Craze
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How a Witch-Hunting Manual & Social Networks Helped Ignite Europe’s Witch Craze

The sudden emergence of witch trials in early modern Europe may have been fueled by one of humanity’s most significant intellectual milestones: the invention of the printing press in 1450. A recent study in Theory and Society shows that the printing of witch-hunting manuals, particularly the Malleus maleficarum in 1487, played a crucial role in spreading persecution across Europe. The study...

Reconstruction of Costumes Based on Wall Paintings from Faras
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Reconstruction of Costumes Based on Wall Paintings from Faras

In the 1960s, the Egyptian government decided to build the Aswan High Dam. To study and salvage areas threatened by flooding by the Nile, scholars from twenty-six countries participated in a UNESCO-led initiative to save cultural heritage. A Polish team, led by Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski from the University of Warsaw, chose as their research site...