#1000BlackGirlBooks and the Importance of Diversity in Children’s Literature
The importance of diversity in children's literature, especially for young children of color.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Can an Emoji Ever Be a Word?
You might be forgiven for thinking that the merry band of lexicographers at Oxford Dictionaries were trolling us ...
Mele Kalikimaka! How To Say “Merry Christmas” In Hawaiian
Translating "Merry Christmas" into Hawaiian offers insight into the language's modest inventory of consonants.
Gender Disparity and Book Reviews: the VIDA Count
The organization VIDA: Women in Literary Arts was launched in 2009 to document gender disparity in book reviews.
