Is This the Death of Democracy in America?
The United States has pulled back from the brink of authoritarianism before. But a new study reveals the daunting challenges the country faces in preserving its democracy.
19 Apr 2018
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'Bunk' Joins the Dots Between Barnum and Trump
Kevin Young painstakingly presents the history of hoaxes and why we keep falling for the same old shtick.
04 Apr 2018
'A Pictographic History of the Oglala Sioux, 50th Anniversary Edition' Is a Treasure
There's really nothing quite like this in other collections of "primitive" art, or even in the grand narrative painting from the European tradition.
23 Mar 2018
'Chocolate Cities' Draws New Maps of Black American Life
A classic Parliament track inspires a new look at how black Americans moved, made connections, and created a nation-within-a-nation.
12 Mar 2018
'Cartoon County' Life in Post-WWII America
Cartoon County reminds that beneath a post-WWII decade of seeming complacency and prosperity, comics strips were clear reflections of a society in transition.
16 Feb 2018
'Soul of a Nation' and 'The Wall of Respect' Prompt New Looks at Cutting-edge Black Art
No matter where you are on the wokeness spectrum, the Black Power era has yet to stop informing.
01 Feb 2018
A Weak Case for the Important Issue of 'Muslims and the Making of America'
A book like Muslims and the Making of America is necessary in these times, and it's for that very reason that Hussain's effort is so disappointing.
18 Jul 2017
Nobody Won the 'War for the Soul of America'
Andrew Hartman’s engaging exploration of the culture wars confirms that the conflicts will never be resolved because both sides are too extreme for America's moderate middle-ground.
01 Jun 2015
The Love of Light: Gore Vidal, 1925 - 2012
We must approach any consideration of Gore Vidal's vast body of work with fear and trembling, because if we do not properly understand and absorb his wisdom, we will have missed yet another opportunity to truly grasp American history and identity.
21 Aug 2012
'The President is a Sick Man': Delightfully Underhanded Stories of Deception and Manipulation
Matthew Algeo's engaging book takes an obscure piece of history and crafts it into an engrossing narrative.
26 Jul 2011
Art and the American Evolution: The Arts of the Americas Wing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
In America, art tells the story of an early predominance of classical European ideals, the emergence of a national identity amidst civil war, and the melting-pot existentialism that dominated a media-obsessed 20th century.
30 Jun 2011
Lynd Ward and Walt Disney: Illustrators of America's Tumultuous History
Much as Walt Disney would do with his famed television programs of the '50s and '60s, Lynd Ward used his talents with watercolor, oil, brush and ink, mezzotint, and lithography to illustrate hundreds of inspiring historical biographies of true-life American heroes for children to admire and emulate.
03 Feb 2011
The Urinal: A Brief Functional and Aesthetic History
How the history of the urinal is the history of America.
Andrew Howe
Culture
01 Feb 2011
Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer
In John Stauffer's capable hands, the tug-of-war between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass is a study in the evolution of both a friendship and a political world view.
25 Feb 2010
Howard Zinn: The Dying of a Light
A tribute to the signature interwar polymath: the historian, activist, dramatist, dockyard worker and teacher Howard Zinn.
21 Feb 2010
East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart by Susan Butler
Butler's book illustrates the fact that Amelia Earhart became the embodiment of adventurous spirit because she was such a formidable force.
16 Nov 2009
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