Anna May Wong

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Our best stories about the vast histories and cultures of Americans with ancestry in Asia and the Pacific.
visitors stand atop a large mound of salt bi-product from lithium production at a mine in the Atacama Desert on August 24, 2022 in Salar de Atacama, Chile.

The ABCs of Lithium 

Lithium is increasingly seen as a strategic resource, especially for batteries in dreams of a green future. But where does it come from, and at what cost?
An illustration from Technic and Practice of Chiropractic, 1915

The Metaphysical Story of Chiropractic

Chiropractic medicine began as a practice built on an approach to the human condition that was distinctly opposed to Christianity.
From the cover of The Yardbird Reader, Vol. 5

Exploring the Yardbird Reader

Initiated under the editorial directorship of Ishmael Reed, Yardbird made room in publishing for marginalized artists from many walks of life.
A security officer keeps watch at the entrance of Tom Liquor store at the intersection of Florence and Normandy in South Los Angeles, 201

What Convenience Stores Say About “Urban War Zones”

The Korean-owned corner shop in a Black neighborhood serves as shorthand for racial conflict, obscuring Los Angeles’s intersectional histories.
Medicago sativa

Alfalfa: A Crop that Feeds Our Food

In 2023, American farmers grew more than 9 million acres of alfalfa. What makes this legume hay so special?
The Penguin logo on the cover of a paperback in 1944

But Why a Penguin?

Penguin Books built on an already strong tradition of branding through cute mascot “media stars” when they introduced their cartoon bird in 1935.
Broadside on the Anglo-Dutch wars, attacking Cromwell's aggression against Holland, and domestic tyranny; Cromwell stands in centre, with the tail of a serpent, made up of the gold coins of the Commonwealth

When All the English Had Tails

Where did the myth that English men (and probably women) were hiding tails beneath their clothing come from? And what was that about eggs?
Actors on stage during a performance of A Midsummer Night 's Dream

Shakespeare and Fanfiction

Despite an enduring slice of audience that treats his work as precious and mythic, most Shakespeare fans have rarely met an adaptive concept they didn’t like.
A collage of cover images from Johns Hopkins’ Collection of Middle East-inspired Sheet Music

Sheet Music: the Original Problematic Pop?

A Johns Hopkins University curator of sheet music and pop culture discusses a “Middle East-inspired” sheet-music collection that’s anything but.