What The Great Gatsby Reveals About The Jazz Age
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel embraced jazz, while also falling prey to the racist caricatures associated with it.
The Rise and Fall of Hologram Art
Major artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Louise Bourgeois have experimented with holography, but it has yet to be taken seriously as an art form.
Pandas, Potlucks, and Planetary Cooling
Well-researched stories from The New Yorker, Quartz, and other great publications that bridge the gap between news and scholarship.
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, “The Black Swan”
Born into slavery, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield broke barriers with every note she sang.
Are Students Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear?
Students tend to fill out end-of-year evaluations so as to describe a “narrative of progress.” For teachers, this is fast food of the mind.
The Downside to Renewable Energy
Rare earth elements are used in virtually all electronics, and mining them is a messy business.
How the Beat Generation Became “Beatniks”
The rebellious culture of the Beat Generation was coopted into fodder for a marketable lifestyle.
How Museums Tidy Up
Deaccessioning old works can be a complicated and fraught process. But even museums have to spring-clean now and then.
The Codpiece and the Pox
A brief history of the codpiece, that mysterious garment favored by 16th-century gents who just may have been covering up their cases of syphilis.
The 1910 Report That Disadvantaged Minority Doctors
A century ago, the Flexner Report led to the closure of 75% of U.S. medical schools. It still explains a lot about today’s unequal access to healthcare.