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Viewing 181–210 of 223 results.
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The Tragic Misfit Behind “Harriet the Spy”
The girl sleuth, now the star of a TV show, has been eased into the canon. In the process, she’s shed the politics that motivated her creation.
by
Rebecca Panovka
via
The New Yorker
on
December 9, 2021
Why is the English Spelling System so Weird and Inconsistent?
Don’t blame the mix of languages; look to quirks of timing and technology.
by
Arika Okrent
via
Aeon
on
July 26, 2021
Thoreau In Good Faith
A literary examination of Henry David Thoreau's life and legacy today.
by
Caleb Smith
via
Public Books
on
July 19, 2021
The Enduring Nostalgia of American Girl Dolls
The beloved line of fictional characters taught children about American history and encouraged them to realize their potential.
by
Meilan Solly
via
Smithsonian
on
June 3, 2021
Exhibit
Reading About Reading
Read up on the history of books.
What We Want from Richard Wright
A newly restored novel tests an old dynamic between readers and the author of “Native Son.”
by
Lauren Michele Jackson
via
The New Yorker
on
May 12, 2021
How US Newspapers Became Utterly Ubiquitous in the 1830s
On the social and political function of political media.
by
Ken Ellingwood
via
Literary Hub
on
May 6, 2021
Lincoln’s Rowdy America
A new biography details the cultural jumble of literature, dirty jokes, and everything in between that went into the making of the foremost self-made American.
by
Sean Wilentz
via
New York Review of Books
on
April 29, 2021
The Book That Stopped an Outbreak of Nuclear War
A new history of the Cuban missile crisis emphasizes how close the world came to destruction—and how severe a threat the weapons still pose.
by
Andre Pagliarini
via
The New Republic
on
April 16, 2021
Libraries and Pandemics: Past and Present
The 1918 influenza pandemic had a profound impact on how librarians do their work, transforming libraries into centers of community care.
by
Julia Skinner
via
JSTOR Daily
on
April 14, 2021
How Should We Understand the Shocking Use of Stereotypes in the Work of Black Artists?
It's about the satirical tradition of 'going there.'
by
Richard J. Powell
via
Artnet News
on
February 16, 2021
Ping Pong of the Abyss
Gerd Stern, the Beats, and the psychiatric institution.
by
Gabby Kiser
via
The Beat Museum
on
February 9, 2021
A Priceless Archive of Ordinary Life
To preserve Black history, a 19th-century archivist filled hundreds of scrapbooks with newspaper clippings and other materials.
by
Cynthia R. Greenlee
via
The Atlantic
on
February 9, 2021
The Radical Origins of Self-Help Literature
How did the genre of self-help go from one focused on collective empowerment to one serving the class hierarchy as it stands?
by
Jennifer Wilson
via
The Nation
on
November 17, 2020
Circulating the Facts of Slavery
How the American Anti-Slavery Almanac became an influential best seller.
by
Teresa A. Goddu
via
Lapham’s Quarterly
on
July 28, 2020
Charismatic Models
There is, and always has been, a vanishingly thin line between charismatic democratic rulers and charismatic authoritarians.
by
Scott Spillman
via
The Point
on
July 26, 2020
J.F.K.’s “Profiles in Courage” Has a Racism Problem. What Should We Do About It?
Kennedy defined courage as a willingness to take an unpopular stand in service of a larger, higher cause. But what cause?
by
Nicholas Lemann
via
The New Yorker
on
July 23, 2020
The Wind Delivered the News
I live in a place where the wind blows history into my path.
by
Josina Guess
via
The Bitter Southerner
on
February 27, 2020
Emily Dickinson Escapes
A new biography and TV show present Emily Dickinson as a self-aware artist who created a life that defied the limits placed on women.
by
Lynne Feeley
via
Boston Review
on
February 20, 2020
Frank Yerby and Lillian Smith: Challenging the Myths of Whiteness
Both Southerners. Both all but forgotten. Both, in their own ways, questioned the social constructions of race and white supremacy in their writings.
by
Matthew Teutsch
via
The Bitter Southerner
on
January 9, 2020
The 21-Year-Old Norwegian Immigrant Who Started Life Over by Homesteading Alone on America’s Prairie
In 1903 Mine Westbye moved to North Dakota to live a life "so quiet you almost feel afraid."
by
Sigrid Lien
via
What It Means to Be American
on
December 15, 2019
The Remembered Past
On the beginnings of our stories—and the history of who owns them.
by
Lewis H. Lapham
via
Lapham’s Quarterly
on
December 14, 2019
Why It's So Hard to Talk about the N-word
A professor explains the trauma of encountering "an idea disguised as a word."
by
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor
via
TED
on
December 1, 2019
From the Battlefield to 'Little Women'
How Louisa May Alcott found a niche in observing the world around her.
by
Jennifer Wilson
via
New York Review of Books
on
August 28, 2019
Nancy Pelosi, Impeachment, and Places in History
Nancy Pelosi's reluctance to impeach Trump only denies the reality of his transgressions.
by
Sean Wilentz
via
The New Yorker
on
July 11, 2019
Before Stonewall, There Was a Bookstore
Networks of activists transformed Stonewall from an isolated event into a turning point in the struggle for gay power.
by
Jim Downs
via
The Atlantic
on
June 27, 2019
“Perhaps We’re Being Dense.” Rejection Letters Sent to Famous Writers
Some kind, some weird, some unbelievably harsh.
by
Emily Temple
via
Literary Hub
on
June 19, 2019
Before ‘Uncle Tom’ Was a Bestseller, He Was Josiah Henson
Born into slavery, this preacher and Underground Railroad conductor served as the inspiration for a history-making book.
by
Jared Brock
via
Christianity Today
on
June 10, 2019
“1984” at Seventy
Why we still read Orwell’s book of prophecy.
by
Louis Menand
via
The New Yorker
on
June 8, 2019
Why Disco Made Pop Songs Longer
Disco, DJs, and the impact of the 12-inch single.
by
Estelle Caswell
via
Vox Earworm
on
April 25, 2019
A Social—and Personal—History of Silence
Its meaning can change over time, and over the course of a life.
by
Jane Brox
via
The New Yorker
on
April 3, 2019
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