Iconic authors
Themes
Bibliography of the day
Fusion and the Farmers' Revolt, How the People's Party Traded Its Program for Silver
In the 1890s the People's Party won states by allying with the old parties it denounced. The bargain kept the votes but shrank a broad revolt against railroads, banks and trusts to a single demand, free silver.
Goblins in the Nursery, Where a Child's Fear of the Dark Comes From
Did nurses' goblin stories put the fear of the dark into children, or did children bring it with them? From Locke to Chesterton, the quarrel over the nursery tale ended not with a winner but with a new line: fear used as a threat against fear handed over as a game.
