Old open book

The Great American Game of Picking the Great American Novel

Arguing about the great American novel was perfect fodder for periodicals in the late 1800s, and it is catnip for a listicle-obsessed internet.
a sunrise over a frozen landscape winter poems

10 Winter Poems To Cozy Up To

Settle in to the winter season with verse from Dylan Thomas, H.D., Pushkin, and more.
Mario hat Odysseus

Super Mario, Homer’s Odyssey, and the Meaning of Marriage

Nintendo's Mario and Homer's Odysseus have more in common than you might think.
Gabrielle Berlinger

Gabrielle Berlinger

An interview with scholar and folklorist Gabrielle Berlinger, a professor of American Studies at the University of North Caroline Chapel Hill.
Kimono pattern

The Surprising History of the Kimono

The kimono that the world associates with Japan was actually created in the late-nineteenth century as a cultural identifier.
Oxford English Dictionaries

In Celebration of Lost Words

At some point in their lexical histories, lost words' original meanings died and have been revived into a mere semblance of their former selves.
Seven Against Thebes

“Thoughts and Prayers” in Greek Tragedy

With national tragedies now as frequent and predictable as sunrises, no phrase has lost consolatory power more swiftly than “thoughts and prayers.”
Seaweed William Kilburn

Are You Wearing Seaweed?

Are you wearing seaweed? People have been for hundreds of years, in sizing, patterns and fibers, although they might not have known it.
America Under Communism

How Hollywood Thrived Through the Red Scare

A young Richard Nixon started asking studio executives why they didn't produce anti-Communist movies. The studios quickly responded with anti-Red films.
Banksy hotel room

Should Banksy be on the West Bank?

Who is Bansky better serving with his artwork in Gaza? Those living on the bank itself or his personal brand?