Barista Coffee Shop Cafe in Portland Oregon

How Portland Became a Hipster Utopia

How did Portland, Oregon become a hipster haven? While other cities declined in the 60s and 70s, Portland looked at what they did and planned the opposite.
Woman taking photo of pumpkin soup with smartphone

Don’t Buy Into the Authenticity Scam

We choose products and services partially based on how they make us feel, on meanings we derive from our choices.
Artisan Sourdough Bread

The War on White Bread

In 1890, women baked more than 80 percent of the nation’s bread at home, and it was brown, non-standardized stuff. When did it become white?
Rum and Coke

What Rum and Cokes Have to do With War

What could be more American than a sugary soda mixed with a liquor made from sugar? The origins of rum and Coke is more problematic than you might expect.
Chapel

The Uncertain Future of the Religious Left

The aftermath of the 2016 U.S. election has renewed calls for an empowered coalition of religious liberals. Is there a place for the religious left?
AKM Adam

A.K.M. Adam and Postmodern Biblical Studies

Welcome to Ask a Professor, our series that offers an insider’s view of life in academia. This month we interviewed A.K.M. Adam.
Steamed dumplings Dim Sum

The Cookbook That Brought Chinese Food to American Kitchens

The groundbreaking 1945 cookbook, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, that introduced Chinese cooking to white American cooks.
Banana coffee

When Coffee Went Bananas

Abel French Spawn was not alone in marketing caffeine-free coffee substitutes like banana coffee to Mormons.
Martin Luther Cranach portrait

Why Martin Luther’s Body Type Mattered

Five hundred years after posting his ninety-five theses and launching the Reformation, Martin Luther remains a big man of history. Literally.
Bible pages

What Good Is Knowing the Bible?

Despite the high rates of religious adherence in the United States, fewer Americans are reading the Bible than at any point in history.