Culture

Family dynasties are neither new nor newly influential in pop.

How a black psychiatrist helped design a groundbreaking television show as a radical therapeutic tool for minority preschoolers.

A strong woman using a new tool to talk to people who were otherwise overlooked played as a joke for some. But was it effective?

The roots musician is inspired by the evolving legacy of the black string band.

A new history of Reconstruction traces the roots of American “respectability” politics through artwork.

American System-Built Homes in Chicago (and elsewhere).

A story of how Louis Wain single handedly made cats adored by Victorian society through to modern day.

Michael Washburn explains what we can glean from the failure of Tom Petty's 1985 concept album "Southern Accents."

Michael Kimmage considers "The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History" by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen.

Air guitar competitions may seem rather new, but this sport has a long, evolving, and sometimes surprising history.

The strange and convoluted history of why yellow ribbons became a symbol of the Gulf War in the 1990s.

Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.

The improbable success of the curveball.

An anti-imperialist network made his warning possible.

Black America talks back to "The Good Gray Poet" at 200.

Real inclusivity is based on equal access to mediocrity.

Pornographers were in many ways the innovators who fueled the rise of the internet as we know it.

The painter, who died at the age of thirty-one, vivified his Native American heritage with inspirations from modern art.

A songwriter-historian weighs in on the controversy over Lil Nas X’s country-trap hit.

Novelist Richard Wright yearned to break into film, but Hollywood's censorship of black stories left his aspirations unfulfilled.

What's the role of functionality in design?

Its meaning can change over time, and over the course of a life.

How mathematics has been shaped by wars, politics, dynasties, and nationalism.

A new production exposes the darkness that’s always been at the heart of the musical — and the American experiment.

How the original DVR paved the way for Netflix and the cord-cutter movement.

Silicon Valley veteran Mike Monteiro explains how designers destroyed the world.

The story of one of rock's most prolific poster artists.

A lot has been written about the notorious concert, but so much of the language around it has been passive and exonerating.

Meet the team that transformed baseball from a pastime to an industry.

The 1989 cult classic ushered in a darker, weirder, more experimental era for teen movies.