Archibald Motley painted African Americans having a good time. Archibald Motley (1891–1981) was born in New Orleans and lived and painted in Chicago most of his life. But because his subject was African-American life, he’s counted by scholars among the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of Motley’s favorite scenes were inspired by good times[…]
There is something of Walter Isaacson in the people he writes about. If the great values of the liberal arts are curiosity and tolerance, then Walter Isaacson is a great humanist. He shares this gift as a wonderful storyteller. One of his favorite stories is about his daughter, Betsy, with whom he has a teasing,[…]
The Civil War divided Americans into two kinds of people. David W. Blight tells an amazing story on camera in Death and the Civil War. It’s about the origins of Memorial Day, a story that Blight, one of several historians interviewed in this documentary, told in his 2001 book, Race and Reunion. The year was 1865 and[…]
The evolution of a reformer. Sometimes a book can change a life. In December 1859, a copy of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Speciesarrived from across the Atlantic and almost immediately began to change the lives of those who read it. The book was addressed to Asa Gray, the Harvard botanist who soon became Darwin’s most influential[…]
Doomsday, 1433. In York, after dark. A red curtain. Painted stars. Actors in hoses, wigs, and two-faced masks—some in angel wings, some with trumpets. Wooden clouds and pieces of rainbow, and an iron frame with pulleys meant to effect Christ’s movements between Heaven and Earth. a “hell mouth” billowing smoke and the smell of sulfur.[…]
Gilgamesh was a brutal tyrant who foolishly tried to defeat death. The Epic of Gilgamesh has been read in the modern world for a little longer than a century, and, in that time, this oldest of stories has become a classic college text. In my own courses on ancient literature and mythology, it is the book I[…]
Many people like to travel because it expands horizons, opens up new places, cultures, and develops people in many areas of life. And almost all tourists want to visit America at least once. In this article, we will give you some reasons why. 1. Beautiful nature In terms of the diversity of landscapes, the United[…]