100 Years of Fox News
When it began as Fox-Movietone News, the company was known for appealing to viewer's tastes by leaving out upsetting news, including the rise of fascism.
Painter, Proust Scholar, P.O.W.
Józef Czapski was a painter, writer, and Proust scholar -- as well as one of the few Polish military officers not executed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
Do We Have to Tell Them the House Is Haunted?
On the law and mythologies of haunting, from antiquity to today.
The “Queer Innocence” of the Brady Bunch
The squeaky-clean Brady Bunch family symbolized the avoidance of the sexual revolution, feminism, and other social forces that were coming to the fore.
What Does Archaeology Have to Do with Nationalism?
Many nations have adopted origin stories in order to link themselves more closely to heroic, historical figures.
How Victorian Mansions Became the Default Haunted House
Quick: Picture a haunted house. It's probably a Victorian mansion, right? Here's how these structures became signifiers of horror, haunting, and death.
When Artists Painted with Real Mummies
The popular paint pigment called “mummy brown” used to be made from—yep—ground-up Egyptian mummies.
Krazy Kat’s Complex Relationship with Race
Behind the slapstick antics in this beloved comic strip simmered ambivalence about color and race.
The Mysterious Mana of Speaking
The Austronesian concept of "mana" helps us understand that behind the monolithic "magic" of modern power and authority, there is a fragile human dimension.