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Articles on 19th century

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‘Valley of the Yosemite’ by the 19th-century artist Albert Bierstadt, owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images

In America, national parks are more than scenic − they’re sacred. But they were created at a cost to Native Americans

The idea of Manifest Destiny inspired Americans to push west, leading to the creation of the first national parks. But those beliefs spelled removal for many Native American groups.
Some Luddites simply want to press ‘pause’ on the uninhibited march of technological progress. Stan Eales/iStock via Getty Images

What’s a Luddite? An expert on technology and society explains

Despite the association of ‘Luddite’ with a naïve rejection of technology, the term and its origins are far richer and more complex than you might think.
An etching of a Royal Institution lecture by James Gillray (1802). Davy is on the right, holding the bellows. Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo

Why thousands of volunteers are transcribing the notebooks of the scientist who inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Davy’s famous lectures on the animating power of electricity may have inspired a young Mary Shelley as she came up with the idea for Frankenstein.
January is named after the two-faced Roman god Janus, and the Victorians understood this has long been a season of looking backward as much as forward, and not just in search of lessons. (Shutterstock)

How 19th-century Victorians’ wellness resolutions were about self-help — and playful ritual fun

The 1859 book ‘Self-Help’ by Scottish journalist and physician Samuel Smiles was written in bite-sized pieces reminiscent of today’s wellness and lifestyle New Year tips.
Ben Franklin, center, inserted an abortion recipe in a popular textbook he republished in 1748. GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

Abortion decision cherry-picks history – when the US Constitution was ratified, women had much more autonomy over abortion decisions than during 19th century

A scholar of 18th-century America and the founders analyzes the Supreme Court opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion, which he says relies on an incomplete version of US history.

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