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In Custodians of Wonder, Eliot Stein takes a vivid look at 10 astonishing people who are maintaining some of the world’s oldest and rarest cultural traditions. Read on for an introductory excerpt from the book. A late 19th century example of Burano lace. Courtesty of Wikimedia Commons. Minutes after I met Anna, she was gripping my wrist with […]
Harriot Kezia Hunt, from a 1910 publication. (Public domain, Wikimedia Images.) For two days, on June 27 and 28, 1860, Dr. Harriot Kezia Hunt’s Boston home teemed with activity. Housemaids arranged dozens of flowers—roses, lilies, chrysanthemums, sunflowers—into beautiful bouquets, filling the entire house with delightful scents. In the kitchen, the cook prepared assorted pound cakes, […]
by The History Reader Shopping for any history-loving friends? Below is our holiday gift guide with our favorite books of 2024! The Cold Crematorium by József Debreczeni First published in Hungarian in 1950, The Cold Crematorium was never translated into a world language due to McCarthyism, Cold War hostilities and antisemitism. More than 70 years later, […]
Elizabeth Jennings Graham. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. “We are not going back,” is a refrain heard in this year’s election campaign. We like to think of history as steady progress forward. But during the struggle toward human rights and racial justice in the United States, we have gone back more than once. In July […]