How Jonathan Swift Attacked Fake News

Source: The Daily Beast

In the 1720s and 1730s, author Jonathan Swift used satire to protest social injustices, balancing facts with absurdity.

Patience Agbabi: Chaucer remixed

Source: The Telegraph

Poet Patience Agbabi re-writes Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with characters from modern-day England.

Who betrayed Anne Frank? New probe launched by ex-FBI agent

Source: CNN

Using “cold case” investigation methods and hi-tech data analysis, a team of experts is working to determine whether someone told the Gestapo about the secret annex, or if the discovery of the Frank family was merely a matter of chance.

Harriet Tubman: American Hero

Source: U.S. News & World Report

In March of 2017, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center opened in Maryland. Read this article to learn more about the center, along with several other reasons Tubman has received fresh attention recently.

Fridtjof Nansen

Source: Nobel Prize

Fridtjof Nansen would have been a hero in his native Norway if he had only been a brilliant scientist or an intrepid explorer or an innovative diplomat or a life-saving humanitarian. But he was all of these, and more.

Did John Deere’s Best Invention Spark a Revolution or an Environmental Disaster?

Source: Smithsonian

This article examines the complexities of farming technology and its environmental impact since the invention of John Deere’s steel plow in 1833.

Mind Ablaze

Source: The New York Times

Critic Jayne Anne Phillips outlines Stephen Crane’s life as she reviews Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire, a 2014 biography of the American author written by Paul Sorrentino.

Gandhi: Surprising Facts on His Life and How His Legacy Lives on Today

Source: Biography

Read this article and watch the video to learn about the life of Mohandas Gandhi, whose method of peaceful resistance continues to inspire activists today.

When Girls Studied Planets and the Skies Had No Limits

Source: Smithsonian

In the early 1800s, astronomy was seen as a feminine hobby. As it became professionalized, women started to become sidlined. Scientists like Maria Mitchell fought for women’s place in the field.

L.A. County formally replaces Columbus Day

Source: High School Insider by The Los Angeles Times

Acknowledging the role European settlement in the Americas had on native people, the city of Los Angeles renamed the holiday to commemorate Christopher Columbus as “Indigenous Peoples Day.”