Reverb Effect

Since the 2016 election, use of the term "fake news" has skyrocketed: in media, in political rhetoric, and in the coffee shop or office kitchen. But its presence in the news is not new, nor is Russia's involvement in the story. Dr. Johanna Folland  takes us back into the lifecycle of a "fake news" story from the 1980s, before we referred to such things with that moniker. She tells the story of how...

Historians have long searched for the "voices" of the past, crafting stories past actors might have told from the records they leave behind. They sift through endless boxes of old letters, reports,  memos, maps, photos, blueprints, and testimonies. But what are the chances the historian will hear the literal voice of a historical actor they study? Dr. J. Martin Vest pieces together the history of...

In what ways can a look be unsettling? Intimidating? Might it be dangerous? How does one study the history of an act so fleeting, and so difficult to record? PhD candidate Molly Brookfield studies the history of men's harassment of women in public places, in other words, street harassment. She's interested in behaviors like catcalling or ogling, actions often considered trivial or even complimenta...