Should Readers Trust “Inaccuracy” in Memoirs about Genocide?
To what extent do errors undermine life writing? The question is an urgent one when that writing is testimony to the genocidal actions of the Khmer Rouge.
Kahlil Gibran: Godfather of the “New Age”
Published in 1923, The Prophet became a perpetual best-seller, birthed a genre, and marked the poet as retrograde, sentimental, and florid.
Honey Cocaine’s Unexpected Cambodian Canadian Life Story
The Toronto rapper embraces a patois-inflected “bad gal” image to tell a deeply personal story about historical violence.
Should We Expect TV Chefs to Serve “Me on a Plate”?
Asian Americans navigate entrenched attitudes and expectations when it comes to their relationship with food—even while competing on Top Chef.
How do South Asian Americans Remember Home Cooking?
Culinary discourse—whether in fiction, memoir, or cookbook—sets in motion an extended discussion about food, nostalgia, and national identity
The Flood Behind Bessie Smith’s “Back-Water Blues”
The Mississippi River flood that Smith allegedly memorialized happened weeks after she'd written and released her song. Where was the real “Back Water”?
Michael Gold: Red Scare Victim
The author of Jews Without Money, a proletarian lit best-seller, was ostracized for his Communism and derided for his prose. Today he is all but forgotten.
Christine Quintasket
Better known by the pen name Mourning Dove, Quintasket was a leader and activist who used her position as a public intellectual to fight for Colville rights.
Deep Zoom: 1836 Broadside “Slave Market of America”
Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, this single 77 by 55 centimeter sheet tells multiple stories in both text and illustration.
Dance Marathons
In the early twentieth century, dance marathons were an entire industry—and a surprisingly hazardous business.