Imagining Black Spartacus (Hyperallergic)
by Sarah E. Bond
How could abolitionists explain the Haitian revolution in sympathetic terms to a deeply racist European and American white public? Simply graft its story onto tales from ancient Rome.

Would the end of ‘great books’ courses be a tragedy? (The New Yorker)
by Louis Menand
To some educators, the decline of college courses focused on great works of Western civilization is a sign of universities slipping into a crass careerist mentality. Yet these courses actually evolved in tandem with the practical research university.

Remembering bell hooks (The Guardian)
by Reni Eddo-Lodge, David Olusoga, Jay Bernard, Johny Pitts, Jeffrey Boakye, Margaret Atwood, Candice Carty-Williams, Aminatta Forna, Afua Hirsch
The passing of bell hooks leaves behind generations of writers, activists, and thinkers influenced by her work. To many of them, what stands out is her melding of intellectual rigor and unabashed love.

A road is also a barrier (Aeon)
by Darryl Jones
Roads connect humans, but they also break up ecosystems. Fortunately, people around the world are developing innovative systems to help creatures around these hazards, from “frog tunnels” to rope ladders for possums.

Meet the first ‘real’ millipede (The Atlantic)
by Haley Weiss
It’s a disappointing fact that millipedes typically have considerably fewer than 1,000 legs. But a new species surprised scientists with an overperforming 1,306. What does it do with them all? And how do researchers go about counting them, anyway?

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