Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair

In the mid-1990s, Sarah McLachlan set out to prove a woman's place was center stage.

With a Brass Band Blaring, Artist Kehinde Wiley Goes Off to War with Confederate Statues

Kehinde Wiley unveils his new equestrian statue in Times Square. In December, it will be installed in Richmond, with those of Civil War generals nearby.

Black Sox Forever

Reflections on the centennial of America’s greatest sports scandal.

How War Made the Cigarette

A new book explores the tangled politics behind a global addiction.

Selling Slashers to Teen Girls

The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.

The Debt That All Cartoonists Owe to "Peanuts"

How Charles Schulz's classic strip shaped the comic medium.

The Vietnam Myth That Gave Us All Those ‘Rambo’ Movies

For decades, conspiracy theorists have clung to the fiction that thousands of soldiers are being held captive in Asia.
Janet Jackson performing.

How a White Nationalist Mass Shooting Inspired Janet Jackson’s Masterpiece

Thirty years ago today, Janet Jackson released “Rhythm Nation 1814," her most topical album yet and one inspired by a horrifying mass shooting.
Protester at an "America First" rally.

The Great-Granddaddy of White Nationalism

Thomas Dixon’s racist discourse lurks in American politics and society even today.
Photograph of Roy Cohn sitting in a wooden brown and yellow upholstered chair.

Covering for Roy Cohn

A documentary about his life and circle is a study in complicity.
Drawing of a man and his donkey from the book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, circa 1800s.

Americans Have Always Celebrated Hacks and Swindlers

In 19th-century New England, rule-breaking Yankees were a source of national pride.

On Eric Garner, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Police Brutality as American Tradition

“¿DEFACEMENT?,” Inspired by the 1983 Police Murder of Michael Stewart.

The End of the Golden Era of Chess

The recent passing of Pal Benko and Shelby Lyman draws the curtain on an American period that produced some of the game’s most sparkling play.

The Slow Clean

Mikaella Clements on the role of baths in twentieth-century literature.

Mass Barbecue is the Invasive Species of Our Culinary Times

There's room for the haute and folk traditions but the market-driven style taking over is the most problematic.
Margaret Mead in front of a bookshelf, with a book in hand

How Cultural Anthropologists Redefined Humanity

A brave band of scholars set out to save us from racism and sexism. What happened?

California's Mexican-American History Is Disappearing Beneath White Paint

It’s surprisingly hard to protect beloved public art.

Teddy Roosevelt Hated Baseball

It was a struggle to even get the president to go to a game.
Collage by Romare Bearden depicting African Americans in an urban setting

The Many Lives of Romare Bearden

An abstract expressionist and master of collage, an intellectual and outspoken activist, Bearden evolved as much as his times did.
Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke) and Dorothy (Judy Garland) in "The Wizard of Oz."

"The Wizard of Oz" Invented the "Good Witch"

Eighty years ago, MGM’s sparkly pink rendering of Glinda expanded American pop culture’s definition of free-flying women.

Jenny Zhang on Reading Little Women and Wanting to Be Like Jo March

Looking to Louisa May Alcott's heroine for inspiration.

‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is a Science Fiction Film

Far from wallowing in nostalgia, Tarantino is using alternative history to critique conventional Hollywood endings.

Golden Age Superheroes Were Shaped by the Rise of Fascism

Created in New York by Jewish immigrants, the first comic book superheroes were mythic saviors who could combat the Nazi threat.
Harper Lee

On the Beat with Harper Lee

A review of Casey Cep's new book on Harper Lee's never written true crime book, "The Reverend."

Fifty Years Ago, Hendrix’s Woodstock Anthem Expressed the Hopes and Fears of a Nation

It also inspired my own scholarship on the national anthem.

A Lifetime Of Labor: Maybelle Carter At Work

Maybelle Carter witnessed the dawn of the recording era and helped create country music as one of the genre's biggest acts.

Mapping Non-European Visions of the World

These maps drawn by Indigenous artists depict a union of visual traditions during the 16th century.
Maybelle and Helen Carter.

For Women Musicians, Maybelle Carter Set the Standard and Broke the Mold

One of the most indispensable guitarists of all time, Carter was a quiet revolutionary.

Why Were the 1970s So… Weird?

When the counterculture optimism receded, things got ugly.

A Brief History of Seltzer Booms in America

For over 100 years, the bubbly beverage has gone in and out of vogue as a wellness tonic.