The Tragedy of Macbeth has been produced for the stage and screen innumerable times in the past 400 years. Perhaps the most powerful version so far has been an adaptation by famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Find out how “the Scottish play” translates to an ancient samurai setting.
The Academy Award-nominated film Selma centers on a key struggle in the American civil rights movement. Read one reviewer’s appraisal of its artistic and narrative achievement.
In 1964, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov made predictions of many technological advancements. Many are here today. Will your work in the future bring more of his visions into our lives?
Many people have heard of the Viking god Thor and his mighty hammer. But the Vikings worshiped many gods and goddesses, just like the ancient Greeks. Read about their gods, evil giants, Valhalla, and more of their mythology as told in their sagas.
Read about a four-day commemoration in Richmond, V.A. which will mark the 150th anniversary of the fall of the Confederacy’s capital on April 3, 1865.
Author Ilie Ruby recalls the thrills of hearing ghost stories around campfires and explores why it is we are drawn to them.
In 1950, just before the Civil Rights movement, Gordon Parks took a series of photographs of Fort Scott, Kansas, his hometown, for Life magazine. Now on display in an exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, art lecturer Toni Pepe Den reviews the images.
In the second year of the Civil War, Nathaniel Hawthorne published an article in Atlantic Monthly outlining his unconventional views on the war. American Studies professor Cynthia Wachtell offers her opinion about the piece.
Author Rick Bass discusses the inspirations for his stories and novels.
In the 1980s, Welsh coal miners went on strike to oppose the policies of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. They were surprised to receive support from a group vastly different from them, but united in feeling marginalized by the Thatcher government.
Chinese New Year celebrations were started in order to chase away a mythical beast. Exactly when is Chinese New Year? Why is the dragon one of the favorite animals of this celebration? Find out the answers to these questions and interesting facts and tales in this article and video.
A new book from Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, based on the discovery of journals containing interviews with fugitive slaves, sheds light on how the Underground Railroad really worked. Read about it here.
Read about why horror is always going to mean big business.
A new book looks at a pivotal moment in scientific history that changed the way we understood sight and perception.
In the film Wild, based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir and starring Reese Witherspoon, a woman rediscovers herself as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail alone. It has inspired others to attempt the journey.
Jen Bervin talks about how she was inspired by the physical nature of Emily Dickinson’s poems when putting together The Gorgeous Nothings, her recent collection of work by the poet. Scroll to the bottom of the article to see examples of the poems, which were written on envelopes.
In 1833, Harriet Beecher Stowe witnessed the brutality of slavery on her first trip to the South. What she saw changed her and led to her writing her famous anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in 1852. Listen to a discussion about her legacy here.
Are you a Thrillseeker? New research shows people differ in their chemical response to thrilling situations. Read about why some of us enjoy being scared, while others don’t.
Read about, and view some of the material from, this exhibit in which student refugees and immigrants in Tuscon, AZ, explore the concept of home.
In this radio piece, NPR looks back at the music written during and about the Vietnam War. Many musicians used protest songs to voice their opposition to the war.
