Tantalus, Pac-Man, and Unsated Hungers
What does a violent, ancient Greek myth reveal about our modern addiction to technology and the enduring power of stories?
Historian J.T. Roane Explores Black Ecologies
Considerations of climate change and environmentalism have for too long paid no mind to where Black people live and in what conditions.
Ulysses Obscenity Decision: Annotated
In December 1933, Judge John Woolsey issued what would become one of the best known legal decisions on obscenity in United States history.
Wang Wei, Poet of Buddhist Emptiness
Focusing almost exclusively on nature, the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei expressed the philosophy of the Chan school.
All You Need Is Live
The very first international TV simulcast was 1967's Our World, which featured performers from around the globe—including the Beatles.
Finding a Murderer in a Victim’s Eye
In late nineteenth-century forensics, optography was all the rage. This pseudoscience held that what someone saw just before death would be imprinted on their eye.
Zadie Smith
Ever since the publication of White Teeth, Zadie Smith has made a career of writing about the actual experiences behind topics like race and immigration.