Volume 4, Issue 1 of Berkeley Barb from January 6th, 1967

Remembering the Human Be-In

More than 20,000 participants in the counterculture gathered in San Francisco’s Golden Gate park to do little more than simply “be” together.
The cover of the September 15, 1970 issue of The East Village Other, featuring Timothy Leary

The East Village Other

The East Village Other, a countercultural newspaper founded in 1965, published interviews with Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg.
Leonard Woolf

How Leonard Woolf Critiqued Bloomsbury from Within

A literary scholar argues that Leonard Woolf has been unfairly neglected—perhaps because his anti-imperialism implicated his friends.
Dizzy Gillespie

What Is Jazz Poetry?

The form flourished in the 1950s, as poets and musicians inspired each other to new heights.
Cover of Mdlle Riego's Knitting Book

Victorian Knitting Manuals Collection

The first manuals for knitting were printed in the 1830s. Those interested in the history of knitting will find them a rich primary source for research.
: A woman adjusting her dress, London, c. 1865

How to Dress for Dystopia

Some nineteenth-century novelists predicted horrible futures, with perfectly horrible clothing to match.
Two policemen interrogating somebody

How Being Polite with Police Can Backfire

When it comes to interactions with the police, the law favors direct speech. But that's not always the way we're trained to speak to people in power.
Edward Thomas

Poetry from the Trenches of WWI

Tragically killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, Edward Thomas was on the verge of a breakthrough.
Richard Wright sits in an armchair with his hand to his chin, 1950s.

The Haiku of Richard Wright

As he lay bedridden with dysentery, the author wrote an astonishing number of haiku. What inspired him?
Six Tuscan Poets by Giorgio Vasari

The Heretical Origins of the Sonnet

The lyrical poetic form’s origins can be traced back earlier than Petrarch.