Cover of The Vegetarian

The Lasting Stain of Political Violence: Han Kang’s The Vegetarian

Providing some historical context to Han King's The Vegetarian. 
Angry housewife

The Many Lives of the Angry Housewife

The housewife novel is having a comeback, continuing the tradition of exploring domesticity and self-hood in fiction. 
Book of love

Who Wrote the Book of Love?

Did the troubadours write the book of love, or just a kind of love poetry? 
Stop trying to make fetch happen

The Linguistics of Mass Persuasion: How Politicians Make “Fetch” Happen (Part I)

Inspired by the Gretchen famous line in the film Mean Girls, Chi Luu explores how politicians mobilize language to sway public opinion.
Illustration of a girl reading.

#1000BlackGirlBooks and the Importance of Diversity in Children’s Literature

The importance of diversity in children's literature, especially for young children of color. 
February 2013 cover of The New Republic with President Obama on the cover

How The New Republic Tried to Find Its Audience

In its early days, The New Republic tried many creative ways to rejuvenate its waning readership. Some were more successful than others. 
On July 17, 1955, Argonne's BORAX III reactor provided all the electricity for Arco, Idaho, the first time any community's electricity was provided entirely by nuclear energy.

What Did Idaho Have to Do With the Cold War?

The real life history behind the 1961 nuclear accident fictionalized in Andria Williams' The Longest Night.
Samuel Smiles by Sir George Reid, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Before KonMari and NotSorry, There Was the Samuel Smiles’ Guide to Self Help

Samuel Smiles' 1859 book, Self Help, offered a groundbreaking approach to self improvement.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning Was Both a Celebrity and a Superfan

As celebrity culture developed in nineteenth-century England, authors were at turns celebrated and celebrators of artists they admired. 
Flag of the Klingon Empire

Why We Love to Learn Klingon: The Art of Constructed Languages

Constructed languages like Klingon excite us because they enable us to actively participate in foreign or "alien" cultures.