Untitled Basquiat

How Basquiat Went From Underrated to Record-Breaking

A 1982 Untitled work of Jean-Michel Basquiat broke records as the highest selling US-produced artwork. Learn how Basquiat and his work gained its fame.
Howard square dance

The African Roots of Square Dancing

Square dancing’s lily-white reputation hides something unexpected: A deep African American history that’s rooted in a legacy of slavery. 
Woody Guthrie

How “This Land Is Your Land” Went From Protest Song to Singalong

Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” has lost a bit of its protest oomph—in part because of a decades-long denial of its later verses.
Maison de Verre Paris

What Makes a Glass House the Ideal Home for a Communist Gynecologist?

Paris’s Maison de Verre is a marvel of modernist architecture whose rarely seen interior was constructed to foster sociality.
Marie Cosindas, Lenore, Boston, 1965

Marie Cosindas and the Painterly Photograph

A student of painting, then of black and white photography under Ansel Adams, Marie Cosindas became famous for turning color photography into an art form.
Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright at 150

Frank Lloyd Wright remains the most famous American architect even though he was born just two years after the end of the Civil War.
Woman thinking

The Science of Thingummyjigs (and Other Words on the Tip of Your Tongue)

What is actually happening when you can't think of the word you mean? It's called Tip of the Tongue syndrome and yes, it's been studied.
70s Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman

In 1942, William Moulton Marston wrote an incredibly charming essay in defense of comics, and describing how he created Wonder Woman.
Moana Maui

The Polynesian Origin Myths Behind Disney’s Moana

Like Disney’s Moana? Learn about the Polynesian origin myths Disney consulted to create the demigod character Maui, played by Dwane “The Rock” Johnson.
Eisenhower before D-Day

What Eisenhower’s Unsent Letter Reveals About True Leadership

Before the D-Day landing on June 6th, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the invasion force, wrote two letters for public consumption.