McCain giving an interview to the press on April 24, 1973, after his return from Vietnam. Photo by US News and World Report.

Language Loss in a Time of War

War happens when words no longer work. Yet war is declared at the very point when words are at their most powerful. Chi Luu examines language loss in war.
Anne's Tablet (1916) by William Ordway Partridge to honor Constance Fenimore Woolson, Mackinac Island, Michigan.

The Submerged Sexuality of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s Fiction

Constance Fenimore Woolson was a renown American Realist writer in her day, but has since almost disappeared. Two new books attempt to change that. 
Sarah Webster Fabio

Sarah Webster Fabio: Mother of Black Studies

Poet, teacher, musician, and scholar of black literature, Sarah Webser Fabio, helped build a Black Arts movement on the West Coast.
Luise Adelgunde Victoria Gottsched

Traduttore, Traditore: Is Translation Ever Really Possible?

Translator, traitor, goes the Italian expression, although something may be lost in the translation.
Violette Personified NYPL Collections

Personification Is Your Friend: The Language of Inanimate Objects

Studies have shown that anthropomorphizing not only helps us learn. It also serves a social function, helping us feel connected.
Dandy pickpockets, diving published in The caricature magazine, or Hudibrastic mirror, by G.M. Woodward, vol. 5, Folio 75

Bowie, Wilde, and the Fin de Siècle Dandies

Exploring the David Bowie/Oscar Wilde/French bohemian dandies connection.
Salaam Reads

The Importance of Publishing Muslim-Themed Children’s Books

Simon & Schuster has established a new imprint of children's books geared towards publishing Muslim characters and stories.
Falling lowercase letters

Do You Even Language, Bro? Understanding Why Nouns Become Verbs

Understanding the phenomenon known as "verbing"--where nouns are turned into verbs. 
Green Island: A novel by Shawna Yang Ryan

“Green Island” Sheds Light on Taiwan’s Tumultuous Past

Shawna Yang Ryan's "Green Island," explores the 2-28 massacre, in which tens of thousands of Taiwanese were killed by Kuomintang troops in 1947. 
The Firebrand and the First Lady Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice By Patricia Bell-Scott

Pauli Murray: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Brilliant (Black, Feminist, Queer, Trailblazing) Friend

Patricia Bell-Scott's new book explores the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray, the poet and civil rights activist.