Simon Miles

Simon Miles on Superpowers and Serendipity

An interview with historian of US foreign policy and diplomacy Simon Miles, who finds that surprises in the archives can lead to the most compelling projects.
Cross Reference image

What’s That in My Glass? It’s Cross Reference!

Grab a cheeseboard and pour a soft, fruity red to help you solve this month’s puzzle.
Photo: Bruce Lee and Maria Yi in a scene from the Kung Fu film Fist Of Fury in 1971

Source: Getty

The Legacy of Bruce Lee’s Sex Life

Lee’s untimely death in 1973 sparked an argument between his widow and his girlfriend over his libido that played out publicly in international media.
Portrait of a young woman leaning on a meridienne by Louise Hersent, 1828

The Colonial Commodity of Knock-Off Cashmere

The import and mass-market replicas of the Kashmiri shawl highlighted Victorian anxieties about empire and its role in industrial modernity.  
An illustration of a silhouette of obese person losing weight with measuring tape

Weight Discrimination Is a Health Problem

The perception of weight discrimination shapes both people’s experience of their own weight status and their disability outcomes.
Still Life with Rabbit by Johann Amandus Wink

Vegetarian Heretics and the Christian Church

Since the religion’s early days, Christian thinkers have treated vegetarianism sometimes as heretical, sometimes as evidence of saintly asceticism.
A dog in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia

The Sacred and Profane Dogs of Mongolia

In Mongolia, dogs are close companions to humans and a key part of a cosmology with Buddhist and shamanic influences. But they’re also seen as unclean.
Close up girl with purple hair reading book

Assigned Readings: Questions to Ask Yourself

Choosing texts to assign next semester? An experienced instructor offers tips for deciding what to add to your syllabus—and what to let go.
A young man struggles with homework and studying for exams

What Happens to Kids’ Learning if Dad Is Incarcerated?

Nearly two million minor children in the United States have an incarcerated father at any given time.
Amazing Baby Beach and coast on Aruba, Caribbean, white beach with blue ocean tropical beach during summer

Aruba: Black Gold and Boas

What happens when an oil-rich island paradise interrupts its production of petroleum? You may have to visit the Caribbean island of Aruba to find out.