Blackface Is Older Than You Might Think
This drawing of a performance of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus has given scholars an understanding of how blackface was used in Elizabethan England. Collection at Longleat House (Marquess of Bath) When…
The Vibrant History of Lowrider Car Culture in L.A.
Nili Blanck; Photographs by Kristin Bedford Correspondent Candy paint jobs with glimmering specks of metallics. Custom upholstery of magenta velvet. Bouncing hydraulics cruising low and slow. The names “Purple Rain”…
Can Climate Fiction Writers Reach People in Ways That Scientists Can’t?
Iran’s Lake Urmia, once one of the largest saltwater lakes in the world, is vanishing due to climate change. Massimo Rumi/Barcroft Media via Getty Images Sci-fi is full of lasers…
This American Monk Travels the World to Rescue Ancient Documents From Oblivion
Joshua Hammer Contributing writer When Columba Stewart, a 63-year-old Benedictine monk based in Minnesota, arrived at the Kaiser Library, a government-affiliated archive in Kathmandu, Nepal, he stared up at the…
The Fight to Legalize Gay Marriage, the Woman Who Couldn’t Be Silenced and Other New Books to Read
This month’s book picks include The Engagement, How the Word Is Passed and Drunk. Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photos via Amazon When Hawaiian broadcast engineer Genora Dancel fell in…
A New History Changes the Balance of Power Between Ethiopia and Medieval Europe
Detail from a manuscript made for King Lebna Dengel, circa 1520, Tädbabä Maryam Monastery, Ethiopia. Photograph by Diana Spencer, courtesy of the DEEDS Project In early 2020, just as the…
Imagining a Different History for Africa Through Art
The Marchioness (2016) depicts a member of the fictional UmuEze Amara family, “one of the oldest noble clans in Nigeria.” © Toyin Ojih Odutola Acclaimed for her life-size pastel and…
The Secret Codes of Lady Wroth, the First Female English Novelist
The bold, brilliant Mary Wroth with a string instrument called a theorbo, circa 1620. Alamy Two summers ago, I found myself face to face with a 400-year-old mystery. I was…
A Literary Scholar Takes Us Around the World in Eighty Books
In his new book Around the World in 80 Books, David Damrosch builds an itinerary that circumnavigates the globe—and doesn’t require a passport to enjoy. Alex Treadway/Getty Images Books and…
The Ten Best Books About Food of 2021
Learn about Gullah Geechee staples, incredible festivals around the world and the future of food in our top picks of the year. Illustration by Valerie Ruland-Schwartz In this year of…