Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the first half of Game 2 of basketball's NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, June 5, 2016. (Ezra Shaw, Getty Images via AP, Pool)

Curry v. James: Superstar Culture in the NBA

A casual viewer of the NBA finals might be led to believe the event is really a showdown between Stephen Curry and LeBron James.
The Loving Family

Loving v. Virginia and the Origins of Loving Day

Loving Day celebrates the SCOTUS decision in Loving v. Virginia in 1967 which struck down the laws of the 16 states still forbidding interracial marriage. 
Photograph by Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman: Before the Selfie

Before cell phones and selfies, American artist Cindy Sherman influenced the world with her monumental and ongoing series of self-portraiture.
Advertisement for Lucky Strike Cigarettes with a well-dressed smoking couple

A Brief History of Tobacco in America

Over the past 50 years, the portion of Americans who smoke dropped has dropped from 42 to 15 percent. The precipitous decline could mean the end of the fascination.
A 1950's beauty advertisement from the 1930s

How Fashion Magazines Talked in the 1930s

The Splashy language of fashion magazines prompted one linguist to look closer at the over-the-top dialect in Vogue and Ladies’ Home Journal of the 30s
Castle Ward

Game of Thrones and the Rebirth of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is seeing a resurgence in tourism, due, ironically enough, to a TV show about political violence between kingdoms: Game of Thrones.
Waves touch the shore at low tide

Five Things You Didn’t Know About the Ocean

June is National Oceans Month. Celebrate with some beach reads.
Illustration of Bretton Woods Hotel

Why Does the IMF Care if Britain Leaves the EU?

The IMF is warning against a "Brexit." But what's the history behind the organization that has such an influence in world financial affairs?
Francis Crick

How Francis Crick Almost Didn’t Make His Huge DNA Discovery

British biologist Francis Crick co-published a paper on the helical structure of DNA some fifty years ago. He followed a convoluted route to this discovery.
The artist retreat, Byrdcliffe

The Utopian Roots of the Artists’ Retreat

The modern artist's retreat has roots in industrial-era utopian communes.