Mental Floss

POLITICS

No taxation without representation!

Residents of Washington, D.C., have no governor, no voting representation in Congress, and only limited local authority. The reason is simple: D.C. isn’t a state. Let’s break down the history and future of D.C. statehood.

Zoë Randolph
Standing in solidarity helps create real change around the world.

Preparedness matters before attending a demonstration. Here’s everything you need to know about how to stay safe during a protest, from what to bring to what your rights are, and more.

Rudie Obias


The red, white, and blue.

Read on to discover which American president wanted to be a concert violinist, which carried a dictionary around in his pocket, who burned his official White House portrait, and why Joe Biden's dog made history.

Corinne Cummings


Steer clear of the blast zone.

Discover some of history's most hilarious—and unforgettable—controversies that were caused by farts, including regime changes in Ancient Egypt and more.

Lucas Reilly




Add more heft to your TBR pile with these gripping fiction and nonfiction books.

The best Vietnam War books from Tim O’Brien, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and others offer new insights and perspectives into the conflict that you probably never got from history class.

Greg Zapata
Westsylvania is just one state that never made the cut.

The road to our 50 states is littered with wannabe territories that couldn't wait to be admitted to the union, but never quite got there. Here are 12 states that could have been.

M Asher Cantrell
Fool’s Cap World Map of the World

Odd cartographic creations like ‘Fool’s Cap Map of the World,’ ‘Leo Belgicus,’ and ‘The Porcineograph’ make the classic Mercator Projection look outright dull.

Lorna Wallace








U.S. troops in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War was a highly controversial conflict. We break down some of the most common questions about the war, from why the U.S. entered the conflict to who ultimately won.

Colin Scanlon
Senator Joseph McCarthy (center) and Roy Cohn (right) during the Army-McCarthy Hearings in June 1954.

McCarthyism advertised itself as a response to national security threats created by the Cold War, including Soviet espionage. But the movement was bigger than Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Tim Brinkhof


The ACLU regularly argues cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The group was founded during World War I to defend Americans’ First Amendment freedoms. Over the years, that mission has taken some unexpected turns.

Shaunacy Ferro