Lord Byron's Maid of Athens

When Lord Byron Tried to Buy a Twelve-Year-Old Girl

The English poet fell in love with Teresa Makri while he was traveling in Greece and subsequently tried to purchase her from her mother.
Gourna Mosque

Hassan Fathy and New Gourna

Fathy rejected European ideas of modernism, arguing that Egypt could draw on its own regional histories to develop a national aesthetic.
From the cover of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, 2006

The Caricature Who Couldn’t Appear on American Born Chinese

The television adaptation of Gene Luen Yang's graphic novel called for significant changes to the character of Chin-Kee.
An Illustration from Leila; or, The Island

What if Robinson Crusoe was a Girl?

In nineteenth-century England, stranding a (fictitious) girl on an island made a good argument for imperialism.
From the cover of the 1977 paperback release of Bear by Marian Engel.

Canada’s Most Controversial Novel

Marian Engel's 1976 novel Bear is famous for its embrace of bestiality, but it also offers a commentary on humans' relationship with the natural world.
Sophia McClennen, author of Trump Was a Joke

Laughing Matters

Sophia McClennen, author of Trump Was a Joke, discusses how political satire decoded the chaos of the forty-fifth presidency.
Julian Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller

A Literary Hit Job: Julian Hawthorne Takes Down Margaret Fuller

Fuller’s works, and works about her, sold very well until Hawthorne cast her as a “fallen woman” in his biography of his parents.
Preparatory sketches for a pittura infamante or shame painting by Andrea del Sarto

Punitive Portraits of the Renaissance

The Italian legal tradition called for the public display of a humiliating—but recognizable—portrait of the disgraced person.
An illustration from Winsor McCay's comic strip consisting of 5 panels, featuring a large moon and a little boy.

The Cutting-Edge Cartoons of Winsor McCay

A prolific, meticulous artist, McCay created characters and storyscapes that inspired generations of cartoonists and animators.
Pencil sketch of artist Elena Guro

Elena Guro and the Cubo-Futurism Group

Informed by the philosophies of the Futurists, Guro's painting and poetry represented an era of experimentation and innovation in Russian art.