The January 1961 cover for Mad Magazine

Mad About Nixon

No other personality appeared more often on the cover of Mad during the first fifty years of the satirical magazine’s life.
A group of holiday-makers sunning themselves on the beach at a South Coast resort, 1895

Inventing the Beach Read

Feeling guilty about kicking back with a paperback during vacation? There’s a precedent for escapist holiday reading, particularly during times of anxiety.
Polonius behind the curtain

In Defense of Polonius

Shakespeare’s tedious old fool was also a dad just doing his best.
The Last Class

The Last Class, 28 Years Later

What happened to the last of the Pell Grant-funded prison higher ed graduates and their paralegal skills? Open Campus's Charlotte West and Angolite associate editor John Corley report.
From Flora de Filipinas by Francisco Manuel Blanco, c.1880-1883

Plant of the Month: Black-eyed Pea

Human relationships to this global crop have been shaped by both violence and resilience.
tribal men from gujrat state performs sighi dhamaal dance

Mumbai, Where Indian Ocean Diasporas and Cosmopolitanisms Meet

The sacred and emotional geographies of two Indian Ocean diaspora communities intertwine with elements of New Age spirituality in the megacity of Mumbai.
red junglefowl

Amazon Rivers, Globalizing Chickens, Non-Alignment

Well-researched stories from Science, Quanta Magazine, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Producer John Dolphin's "Dolphin's Of Hollywood" record store on Central Avenue, 1952

The Los Angeles Renaissance

Black composers Bruce Forsythe and Claudius Wilson transcended barriers to create concert and classical music during this West Coast art movement.
Harvey Milk at Gay Pride, San Jose 1978

Harvey Milk’s Gay Freedom Day Speech: Annotated

Five months before his assassination in 1978, Harvey Milk called on the president of the United States to defend the rights of gay and lesbian Americans.
A meeting of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) leaders, c.1906 - c.1907

Can a Woman Be a Genius?

Many Edwardian progressives and utopians put their hopes in the exceptional individual who was able to overcome obstacles with a force of will.