Gremlins, 1984

PG-13: Some Material May Be Inappropriate

The creation of the PG-13 rating in 1984 can be traced to a few key films: Poltergeist, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Gremlins.
Nuremberg, c. 1890

Nuremberg: City of Dreams and Nightmares

From a mercantile powerhouse in the Middle Ages to a stage for genocidal horror in the twentieth century, Nuremberg has played a pivotal role in German history.
Paul R. Williams

Paul Revere Williams: An Architect of Firsts

The first African American architect licensed in the state of California, Williams blazed a trail to the (Hollywood) stars.
James Holman by Maull & Polyblank, c. 1855

James Holman, the “Blind Traveller”

Once a celebrated travel writer, Holman struggled to find a publisher for his books thanks to a Victorian reluctance to witness his disability.
An illustration of a globe being heated over a fire on a spit

Grilling the Globe

Could meat taxes help to curb over-consumption of beef and mitigate climate change?
Nature Sets Her Hound Youth after the Stag (from The Hunt of the Frail Stag), circa 1495–1510

Reading “The Book of Nature”

Beginning in the Middle Ages, the natural world was viewed as a Christian parable, helping humans to give divine meaning to plants, animals, and the heavens.
Photographs from a review of Black America, in Illustrated American, 1895

Nate Salsbury’s Black America

The 1895 show purported to show a genuine Southern Black community and demonstrate Black cultural progress in America, from enslavement to citizenship.
Belize Cityscape with Lighthouse and Caribbean Sea

Belize: On the Way to Somewhere

After declaring independence from Great Britain in 1981, the Central American nation directed itself down a path to tourism and transformation.
Ada Blackjack

Ada Blackjack’s Secret Weapon

Memories of her son helped Blackjack to become the sole survivor of an ill-fated expedition to Wrangel Island.
Barbican Towers in London

Why We Love/Hate Brutalist Architecture

Developed in response to the post-World War II housing crisis, the once celebrated Brutalism quickly became an aesthetic only an architect could love.