What We Lose When We Lose Indigenous Knowledge
By mistaking a culture’s history for fantasy, or by disrespecting the wealth of Indigenous knowledge, we're keeping up a Columbian, colonial tradition.
Who Decides Which Books Are “Great?”
The concept of “Great Books," the historian Tim Lacy explains, developed in the late nineteenth century as an attempt to foster a “democratic culture.”
The Cold War Origins of Interactive Cinema
The world’s first interactive cinema system, the Kinoautomat was the brainchild of Radúz Činčera, a Czech cinematographer.
The 1925 Dinosaur Movie That Paved the Way for King Kong
During a slow day at work, a young marble cutter named Willis O’Brien began sculpting tiny T-Rex figurines.
The Patron Saint of Bookstores
100 years ago, Sylvia Beach, the first publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses, opened the doors to her legendary bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.
How Oscar Micheaux Challenged the Racism of Early Hollywood
The black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux was one of the first to make films for a black audience, a rebuke to racist movies like The Birth of a Nation.
The “Downton Effect” on the English Country House Tour
The show Downton Abbey spurred a renewed interest in English country estates.
Burn This Book!
Li Zhi’s exasperation with the corruption, greed, and superficiality of the powerbrokers in his society fueled his rebellious writing.
T.S. Eliot
Remembering the famous modernist poet T.S. Eliot with his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."