The Destructive Myth of the Universal Genius
Excusing bad behavior from actors viewed as exceptional has led to supremely destructive moments in history. How'd we get from da Vinci to Hitler?
American Daredevils
The nineteenth-century commitment to thrilling an audience embodied an emerging synergy of public performance, collective experience, and individual agency.
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Speech: Annotated
United States President Lyndon B. Johnson’s televised announcement that he would not run for re-election shocked a nation divided by the Vietnam War.
Cairo’s Zabbaleen and Secret Life of Trash
In Egypt's capital, members of an impoverished Coptic population strengthen community ties while making a living as ragpickers.
From Ancient Greece to a TikTok Trend
We know the sirens of Homeric Greece sang a seductive song, but what did they look like, and why are they going viral on social media?
Send Your Valentine a Song
These love songs from the Bowling Green State University Sheet Music Collection make the perfect gift. Plus, the covers are gorgeous.
Resistance through Silence in Camus’s The Plague
"On this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences."
How Training Bras Constructed American Girlhood
In the twentieth century, advertisements for a new type of garment for preteen girls sought to define the femininity they sold.
Jane Austen’s Subtly Subversive Linguistics
Why are Jane Austen books still so beloved? A linguist argues it has more to do with Austen's masterful use of language than with plot.