popular culture — Bunk History

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Keith Haring spray painting

Keith Haring, the Boy Who Cried Art

Was he a brilliant painter or a brilliant brand?

by Jackson Arn via The New Yorker on March 4, 2024

Robert Stroud in his prison cell, surrouded by books and bird cages.

Freeing Birdman of Alcatraz

Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor the Production Code Administration could stop the production of a movie about murderer and ornithologist Robert Stroud.

by Matthew Wills, David Eldridge via JSTOR Daily on March 3, 2024

Black and white photo of the outside of a bar, with "CB GB: OMFUG" written on an overhang, and graffiti and posters on the walls and windows

Real Estate Developers Killed NYC’s Vibrant ’70s Music Scene

In the 1970s and early ’80s, NYC’s racially and ethnically diverse working-class neighborhoods nurtured groundbreaking rap, salsa, and punk music.

by Kurt Hollander via Jacobin on February 11, 2024

A illustration depicts the Hopkinsville Goblins incident from 1955, when a group claims they were assaulted by aliens of some sort.

The Long, Surprising Legacy of the Hopkinsville Goblins

Or, why families under siege make for great movies.

by Colin Dickey via Atlas Obscura on February 8, 2024

A still from the film "It Happened One Night" of Clarke Gable watching Claudette Colbert hitchhike by showing her leg.

Our Timeless Romance With Screwball Comedy

Born out of the Great Depression, the genre reminds us that even in hard times there's laughter, love, and light.

by Olympia Kiriakou via Zócalo Public Square on February 8, 2024

A hand-drawn, slightly abstract image of a pink typewriter, using a QWERTY keyboard.

Page Against the Machine

Dan Sinykin’s history of corporate fiction.

by Mitch Therieau via Bookforum on February 6, 2024

A nearly gutted department store escalator in Owings Mills Mall in Owings Mills, Maryland.

The Life and Death of the American Mall

The indoor suburban shopping center is a special kind of abandoned place.

by Matthew Christopher via Atlas Obscura on January 10, 2024

Nicki Minaj and the autobiography of Malcolm X written by Alex Haley.

It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop

We cannot understand the last fifty years of U.S. history—certainly not the first thing about Black history—without studying the emergence and evolution of rap.

by Austin McCoy via The Baffler on January 9, 2024

Photo of a female jogger drinking water out of a pink metal water bottle.

Your New Year's Resolution to Drink More Water Has a History

Our water bottle obsession speaks to deeper historical trends.

by Emily J. H. Contois via Made By History on January 2, 2024

Kris Kringle with children from the film 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.'

A Classic Christmas Movie Offers a Lesson About Antisemitism

Nazis play a key role as villain in American collective consciousness—but without broad understanding of antisemitism.

by Rebecca Brenner Graham via Made By History on December 21, 2023

Katherine Rye Jewell standing in front of a tree and brick building on Vanderbilt University's campus.

‘Live From the Underground’ Details the Influential World of College Radio

What made those left-of-the-dial broadcasts so special during the 1980s, ‘90s and 2000s?

by Michael Patrick Brady via WBUR on December 5, 2023

Nixon examining a roll of microfilm with a magnifying glass.

Microfilm Hidden in a Pumpkin Launched Richard Nixon’s Career 75 Years Ago

On Dec. 2, 1948, evidence stashed in a hollowed-out pumpkin incriminated suspected Soviet spy Alger Hiss and boosted a young Richard Nixon’s political status.

by Gordon F. Sander via Retropolis on December 2, 2023

A drawing of a family tree of white rappers connecting Eminem and Macklemore.

A Brief Cultural History of the White Rapper

Why do they exist? Where did they come from? Can they be defended? The most pressing questions, answered.

by Alex Skopic via Current Affairs on November 29, 2023

Football player on the ground, grabbing his head in pain.

‘Another Player Down’

How concern about injuries is changing sports.

via Retro Report on November 20, 2023

Donald Trump, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and Vince McMhaon at a press conference before Wrestlemania 23, 2007.

The Misunderstood History of American Wrestling

A recent biography of Vince McMahon presents him as an entertainment tycoon who changed culture and politics. The real story is as banal as it is brutal.

by Nadine Smith via The Nation on November 10, 2023

Grandmaster Flash, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D.

Hip-Hop's Black Caribbean Roots

The relationship between the DJ and his MC derived from a Jamaican “toasting” tradition and its related “sound clash” culture.

by Alex La Rotta via Made By History on November 6, 2023

Photo of a young Donald Trump greeting Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, 2000

Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura’s Shocking Election 25 Years Ago Previewed Trump’s

The former pro wrestler says his surprise election as Minnesota governor paved the way for Donald Trump. Now he looks back “shamefully” on their past ties.

by Frederic J. Frommer via Retropolis on November 3, 2023

Hank Williams Jr.

Whose Country?

It is impossible to talk about the blues and country without talking about race, authenticity, and contemporary America’s relationship to its past.

by Geoff Mann via New York Review of Books on November 2, 2023

Sparkles in light coming through windows of an empty room.

Signs of Ghosts

What do we do when there are whole cities full of ghosts, each one with their own unique story to tell, each one with something left undone?

by Colin Dickey via Longreads on October 26, 2023

Gremlins climbing on a World War II warplane.

How Gremlins Went From Fairy Stories to Warplanes to Hollywood Legend

Meet these slippery, mischievous reflections of our anxieties about technology.

by Hadley Meares via Atlas Obscura on October 24, 2023

Tupac shirtless in the shower, wearing gold chain and covered in soap suds

Why Tupac Never Died

It’s because the rapper’s life and work were a cascade of contradictions that we’re still trying to figure him out today.

by Hua Hsu via The New Yorker on October 23, 2023

A group of women sitting under hooded hair dryers at a salon.

A Short History of Hairdryers

The beauty parlor became a place of sociability for women in the twentieth century, partly aided by modern technology of hair drying.

by Katrina Gulliver, Jennifer Scanlon via JSTOR Daily on September 25, 2023

"Spy vs. Spy" pointy-headed characters facing each other

Rethinking Spy vs. Spy: A Hand From One Page, A Bomb From Another

Like the spies themselves, the image we have of something is often what gets us in trouble.

by Gyasi Hall via Longreads on September 12, 2023

An uncredited performer with a member of the Delta Rhythm Boys in Give Me Some Skin (1946).

Jammin’ in the Panoram

During World War II, proto–music videos called “soundies” blared pop patriotism from visual jukeboxes across American bars.

by J. Hoberman via New York Review of Books on September 2, 2023

A man wearing sunglasses holding a sign

Kool Herc and the History (and Mystery) of Hip-Hop's First Day

Even as the world celebrates hip-hop turning 50, the debate over rap's birth date spins on.

by David Browne via Rolling Stone on August 11, 2023

Cover of the book "When Crack Was King," and Donovan X. Ranmsey.

A History of the Crack Epidemic From Below

How documenting the history of the drug war is a “community project” and reflections on 1990s rap music's anti-crack hits.

by Donovan X. Ramsey, Naomi Elias via The Nation on August 4, 2023

Barbie doll

Barbie and the Problem of Corporate Power

Stars of the movie about an iconic Mattel toy are on strike. Both the company’s history and Barbie’s plot illuminate how powerful corporations really are.

by Rithika Ramamurthy via Nonprofit Quarterly on July 31, 2023

Scenes of Stephen Speilburg on set from the filming of Jaws

‘Jaws Became a Living Nightmare’: Steven Spielberg's Ultimate Tell-All Interview

“It was made under the worst of conditions,” the filmmaker reveals in a new book. “People versus the eternal sea. The sea won the battle.”

by Steven Spielberg, Anthony Breznican, Laurent Bouzereau via Vanity Fair on July 27, 2023

Drawing from "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Winsor McCay

The Cutting-Edge Cartoons of Winsor McCay

A prolific, meticulous artist, McCay created characters and storyscapes that inspired generations of cartoonists and animators.

by Betsy Golden Kellem via JSTOR Daily on July 26, 2023

A woman is seated at a desk, writing.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Meet the feuding twin sisters who popularized the American advice column.

by Leopold Froehlich via Lapham’s Quarterly on July 24, 2023

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