Keeley Cure ad

Inside a Nineteenth-Century Quest to End Addiction

In 1880, Dr. Leslie E. Keeley promised a cure for the disease of drunkenness. The community he developed influenced our understanding of treating addiction.
Chrysler Building

On The Black Skyscraper: An Interview with Literary Critic Adrienne Brown

Early skyscrapers changed the ways we see race, how we see bodies, how we perceive and make judgments about people in the world.
The inside of a newsroom

Four Hard Truths about Fake News

Skeptical, self-aware interaction with digital data is the critical foundation upon which democracy may be maintained, explains media scholar Alexandra Juhasz.
Still Life

Thanksgiving Is a Feast of Things Forgotten

Thanksgiving is a feast so complex and semiotically dense that things are very often forgotten and rarely go according to plan.
Audiobooks

Is Audio Really the Future of the Book?

The upsurge in audiobooks and podcasts illustrates our heightened interest in digital storytelling, but does listening really count as reading?
Babysitter's Club

How The Baby-Sitters Club Reflected Our Dreams of Safety

In The Baby-Sitters Club, each girl has agency.
James Baldwin

Why James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time Still Matters

For James Baldwin (1924-1987), the fundamental premises of American society needed revisiting. How we might view #BlackLivesMatter through his lens.
Albert Anker, Fortune Teller

The Surprising Historical Significance of Fortune-Telling

The possible futures predicted by fortune-telling happen just often enough to tantalize, preying on our deepest aspirations of catching a "big break."
student using laptop

Student Writing in the Digital Age

Essays filled with "LOL" and emojis? College student writing today actually is longer and contains no more errors than it did in 1917.
Painting: Dessert No. 4 by  Carducius Plantagene Ream, depicting cake, raspberries, and ice cream

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dessert_No._4_by_Boston_Public_Library.jpg

The First Celebrity Chef

Alexis Soyer frequently cooked for royalty and dignitaries, but also displayed a healthy social conscience.