Wayne Thiebaud’s Sweet Take on American Art
The beloved American painter rejected attempts to categorize his work as a Pop Art as he experimented with texture, light, and nostalgia.
When Mao’s Mango Mania Took Over China
A fleeting cult built around a mango exposes the logic, and illogic, of Mao’s personality cult.
The Explorer Who Faked His Way Through the Hajj
Englishman Richard Burton wore several disguises, ranging from merchant to doctor to pilgrim in the holy city of Mecca.
Memory’s Role in Chile’s Democratic Rebirth
In post-Pinochet Chile, public memory became a pathway to accountability.
In Pursuit of Peace, Ancient Athens Created a Goddess
In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War, Athenians worshipped Eirene. Her cult reflects the political role of religion in Ancient Greece.
The Fires This Time
To understand current mass burning events better, scientists are turning to the phenomenon known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly.
Yeats and the Occult Imagination
Beneath his poems lay a lifelong devotion to magic, divination, and a visionary system that shaped his most prophetic work.
Marriage and the Maiden Name
While many women trade surnames they had at birth for their husbands’, some hold on tightly to the former, a tradition famously established by Lucy Stone.
Poetry’s Vital Role in Politics
Like Walt Whitman before them, Joy Harjo and Amanda Gorman are reimagining what it means to be a poet in this democratic republic.
The First Futurists and the World They Built
From Saint-Simon to Silicon Valley, the urge to forecast the future has always masked a struggle over who gets to define it.