Melville’s Confidence Man Today
Does Herman Melville's 1857 novel The Confidence-Man have anything to tell us about our present day? Philip Roth thinks so.
Historian Joyce Appleby Remembered
Historian Joyce Appleby, a major contributor to our understanding of early American history, passed away last month. We remember her.
Will Reading Romance Novels Make Artificial Intelligence More Human?
Google is feeding its natural language AI thousands of romance novels in an effort to humanize its “conversational tone.” Will this give it "humanness?"
What Beauty Product Trends Really Mean
American beauty products were once widely exported abroad and seen as representations of freedom and modernity.
SFMOMA: The Brave New World of Art Museums
SFMOMA celebrated its 75th anniversary with a huge architectural expansion, only rivaled by its technological innovations.
How Supreme Court Nominations Became Political Battles
The battle to secure Supreme Court justices has a long and contentious history.
Civil Religion
The US has created its own "civil religion," a complex body of ambiguous public assertions of faith that obscure the varied, private beliefs of the populace.
Remembering Historian John Hope Franklin
Franklin helped to change the way we think about slavery and Reconstruction.
#TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou: Hashtag Counterattacks to Racist Stereotypes
What do Americans visualize when they hear “Africa”? Can a hashtag change all of that? #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou
Will Art Save Our Descendants from Radioactive Waste?
What if the great threat to human life isn't a bomb dropping down from above but radioactive waste creeping up from below? Will art come to our rescue then?