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."
The Question of Race in Beowulf
J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal scholarship on Beowulf centers a white male gaze. Toni Morrison focused on Grendel and his mother as raced and marginal figures.
Selling Slashers to Teen Girls
The heroines of 1970s and 80s teen horror movies were traditionally feminine, tough, and sexually confident.
Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark
Books and other art are often censored for covertly racist reasons.
H.G. Wells’s Letters to Cora Crane
The correspondence between famous novelist H.G. Wells and Cora Crane, the partner of "The Red Badge of Courage" author Stephen Crane.