Elements of Design: Spotlight on Color
Color, like line, shape, texture, and the other elements of art and design, communicates meaning and creates visually compelling experiences. Here's how.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe: Annotated
Poe's 1841 story, arguably the first detective fiction, contains many tropes now considered standard to the genre, including a brilliant, amateur detective.
Edna Ferber Revisited
The first-generation Jewish American novelist exposed entrenched prejudices of her day. A reissue of The Girls introduces her wit to new readers.
How Media Stifles Deliberative Democracy
As outlets that welcome rational exchanges of ideas dwindle those that serve as echo chambers are exploding. What does that mean for free speech and the health of the US?
Lee Miller, More than a Model
Miller photographed the chaos of war’s end in Europe, documenting major battles, the liberation of Paris, and the horrors of Dachau and Buchenwald.
Art Nouveau: Art of Darkness
First named such in Belgium, Art Nouveau was intimately tied up with that country’s brutal rule of the Congo.
The Boston Athenæum
Founded in 1807, the subscription library was a gathering place for local scholars, “men of business,” and members of the upper classes in search of knowledge.
William Morris, Anti-Capitalist Publisher
By drawing on traditional typefaces for Kelmscott Press, Morris showed that he was unwilling to yield to capitalism’s demands for speed and efficiency.
Dressmaking Liberated American Women—Then Came the Men
The creation of bespoke clothing offered women a way to escape traditional middle-class expectations and gain unprecedented power, until men took over.
Arabic Hebrew, Hebrew Arabic: The Work of Anton Shammas
Within the alienated and antagonist cultures inside Israel’s borders, Arabic and Hebrew—related, but mutually unintelligible languages—cross-fertilize each other.