Tagore in Saigon: Culture, Contradictions, Champagne
Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Vietnam in 1929 fanned the debate about the region’s potential future without the French.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Animal Sacrifice and the Greek Gods
The ritual of animal sacrifice in ancient Greece brought humans closer to the gods even as it defined their differences.
A Hundred Years of Mrs. Dalloway
An exemplar of modernism, Virginia Woolf's revolutionary novel explored ideas—psychology, sexuality, imperialism—that roiled the twentieth century.
The Bloomsbury Group: A Reading List
In 1905, a group of writers and painters gathered in a London home and began a conversation on politics, love, sex, and art that lasted decades.
Lady Gaga’s Return to Form
With Mayhem, Lady Gaga offers (again) utopia on the dance floor—but is there anyone left in the club to experience it?
How Roy Orbison’s Repertoire Shaped David Lynch’s Films
Drawing on the nostalgic feelings evoked by Orbison's music, Lynch added new layers to the cinematic traditions of film noir.
Emily Carr and Canadian Identity
At times at odds with her self and her role in society, Carr sought an identity in the landscapes and Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest.
The Storied History of HBCU Marching Bands
Marching bands at historically Black colleges and universities can be seen as both celebratory emblems and complicated arbiters of Black American culture.
Colorful Plots and Racial Undertones in Modern Crime Fiction
Tarik Abdel-Monem argues that American crime fiction reflects mainstream prejudices in depicting mixed-race individuals as either deformed or superhuman.