USPS Forever stamps featuring illustrations from Ezra Jack Keats' book "Snowy Day"

The Man Whose Snowy Day Helped Diversify Children’s Books

Jack Ezra Keats's 1962 book The Snowy Day featured an African-American protagonist, a first for a full-color children’s book.
Christopher Robin

The Sad Story of A. A. Milne and the Real-Life Christopher Robin

The film Goodbye, Christopher Robin tells the story of how A. A. Milne’s popular children’s stories damaged his son, the real-life Christopher Robin.
Leave It To Beaver family dad

When Ward Cleaver Caused Social Anxiety

In the early 1960s, an Illinois Children and Family Services worker tried to figure out how TV dads were impacting contemporary American fathers.
Julia Ward Howe

The Long, Winding History of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”

Julia Ward Howe wrote her most famous poem, the legendary Civil War song, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” in a single burst of inspiration 156 years ago.
Rudy Vallee

The Gender Politics of the First Boy Bands

Crooning, a musical style of the late 1920s and early 1930s, was fraught with gender panic. Where the singers manly enough?
Young Pope

Why The Young Pope Matters

Has anything like the events depicted in The Young Pope ever happened before? The answer, you may be surprised to learn, is yes.
Origins of speech crow

The Origins of Human Speech: More Like a Raven or a Writing Desk?

Language is the cognitive faculty that separates humans from other animals, but interjections have often been equated with the primitive cries of animals.
Lois Lowry Number the Stars

The Real-Life Story Behind Number the Stars

An interview with Lois Lowry reveals that the popular children's novel Number the Stars was based on a true story of resistance to the Nazis.
Black Noddy Terns Nesting in Pisonia Trees at Lady Musgrave Island Queensland Australia

The Bird-Catching Pisonia Trees

Found mainly on Caribbean islands, Pisonia trees resemble any typical large, tropical tree. Typical, that is, until you notice the bones.
Official Macron portrait

Louis XIV, Napoleon, and Macron: The Choreography of Portraits

Official portraits have been a means of communicating intention and creating image throughout history. Consider three of France's iconic leaders.