Japanese Travel Poster, ca. 1936

Western Travel Writers or Japanese War Propagandists?

Even as Japan courted Western tourists with images of exotic customs and untouched landscapes, the Second Sino-Japanese War raged across East Asia.
Colourful silhouettes of people with weight issues.

Weight in the Sociology Classroom

Body weight is in some ways a trickier topic for sociology students than other stigmas. One professor explains how he approaches the challenge of discussing it.
Woman tending to vegetable beds while working on a farm

How the Land Is Passed

A transatlantic story of Black land, loss, and resistance.

How Libraries Stand the Test of Time

The digital era builds upon millennia of librarianship as humans strive to preserve our cultural heritage.
Photo taken by FBI agents in Jonestown following the Jonestown massacre of November 18, 1978.

One Woman’s Path to Jonestown

While the events that led to the Jonestown massacre included profound tragedy, the life—and death—of one of its residents offers lessons on community and resilience.
Ron Jaffe/AMC

Mad Men and Its Obsession with Frenchness

Mad Men’s in-universe fascination with Frenchness was so frequent and important to the plot(s) that it might as well have been a main character.
Clockwise: Agha Shahid Ali, Elizabeth Bishop, William Logan, Paisley Rekdal, Charles Fort, Tim Seibles.

10 Villanelles by Modern and Contemporary Poets

Read these recursive, nineteen-line poems by Elizabeth Bishop, Paisley Rekdal, William Logan, Agha Shahid Ali, and more.
A high stack of books and a mobile phone

Online Reading, African Archaeology, and Inca Literacy

Well-researched stories from Undark, NPR, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.

Send in the Clowns

Lulu Adams came from a long, illustrious line of circus performers and was credited—even if wrongly—with being the world’s first female clown.
Digital visualization of a colourful fractal called a Mandelbrot set.

Fifty Years of Fractals

A half century ago ago, Benoit Mandelbrot coined the word "fractal" and pioneered a new type of geometry.