Grand Illusions
By the time L. Frank Baum introduced the world to Dorothy and the gang, he’d already made his name as a shop window dresser par excellence.
Comparing Editions of David Walker’s Abolitionist Appeal
Digitization allows researchers to trace editorial and authorial changes in archival content. Both are central to the study of this famous abolitionist pamphlet.
“I Have A Dream”: Annotated
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.
Donald Goines, Detroit’s Crime Writer Par Excellence
The writer used hard-boiled fiction as a wide lens to accurately capture the widescreen disparity of Black life in the 1970s.
In Defense of Kitsch
The denigration of kitsch betrays a latent anti-Catholicism, one born from centuries of class and ethnic divisions.
Alondra Nelson: Leave More Genius Work Behind
How do those who have been the objects of scientific study and medical experimentation become the agents or the producers of scientific knowledge?
The Patron Saint of Bookstores
100 years ago, Sylvia Beach, the first publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses, opened the doors to her legendary bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.
The Afterlife of Royal Hair
Whether worn as a lovelock or set in elaborate jewelry, the clipped-off hair of Kings and Queens outlived the monarchs themselves.
With Social Media, Everyone’s A Celebrity
Social media has made constant exposure a common experience. To learn how to deal with the attention, maybe we should look to the first celebrities.
Disability Studies: Foundations & Key Concepts
This non-exhaustive reading list highlights some of the key debates and conceptual shifts in disability studies.