A parent and child near windmills at sunset

Black Midwestern Studies: A Reading List

This primer on Black Midwestern Studies examines the factors shaping communities of color in America’s “flyover country,” long mistaken as a place of normative whiteness.
The Three Princes of Serendip

What Is Serendipity?

We often credit unexpected events to serendipity. But who amongst us knows The Three Princes of Serendip, the tale from which the word derives?
The cover of "Go" by Kazuki Kaneshiro

Race and American Pop Culture in Zainichi Stories

A close reading of the 1996 novel GO suggests zainichi identity is in dialogue with multiple national cultures, including American.
Plans for the development of Manila by Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett

Daniel Burnham in the Philippines

Building on his success as an architect and planner in Chicago, Daniel Burnham took American values and aesthetics to the new US colony of the Philippines.
Tyler S. Sprague

Tyler S. Sprague on the Intersection of Structure and Design

An interview with Tyler S. Sprague, a historian of the built environment whose work depends on multidisciplinarity and a deep knowledge of structure and materials.
German Singing Society, 22nd Infantry, Ft. Keogh, May 13, 1894

German Song in America

In the late 1800s, German American singing festivals united German immigrant communities and brought new kinds of cultural activities to the United States.
Facsimile of the original draft of the United States Declaration of Independence with images of the signers around the border.

Celebrating the Fourth of July

Take a moment to contemplate the history and complexity of Independence Day, American Style.
Emil Nolde, Red Clouds, watercolour on handmade paper, 34.5 x 44.7 cm.

How a Postwar German Literary Classic Helped Eclipse Painter Emil Nolde’s Relationship to Nazism

While Nolde was one of the many victims of the Third Reich’s repressive responses to “degenerate art,” he was also one of Nazism’s great admirers.
Members of the Goldwyn Cover Girls in bakery in a scene from the film 'Palmy Days', 1931.

Queer Representation in Pre-Code Hollywood

Before the establishment of the Hollywood Production Code in the 1930s, filmmakers deployed gender and sexuality stereotypes for glamour, humor, and drama alike.