A drawing of a woman looking inside the door of a church where children are playing.

The Quiet Revolution of the Sabbath

Requiring rest, rather than work, is still a radical idea.
Tennessee Williams

How Thomas Lanier Williams Became Tennessee

A collection of previously unpublished stories offers a portrait of the playwright as a young artist.
A hand holding a stethoscope and knife.

The Blackwell Sisters and the Harrowing History of Modern Medicine

A new biography of the pioneering doctors shows why “first” can be a tricky designation.

The Fight to Preserve African-American History

Activists and preservationists are changing the kinds of places that are protected—and what it means to preserve them.

The Long War Against Slavery

A new book argues that many seemingly isolated rebellions are better understood as a single protracted struggle.

The Real Nature of Thomas Edison’s Genius

The inventor did not look for problems in need of solutions; he looked for solutions in need of modification.

The Imperfect, Unfinished Work of Women’s Suffrage

A century after the 19th Amendment, it’s worth remembering why suffragists fought so hard, and who was fighting against them.
Film still of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.

The Contested Legacy of Atticus Finch

Lee’s beloved father figure was a talking point during the Kavanaugh hearings and is now coming to Broadway. Is he still a hero?

Southern History, Deep Fried

John T. Edge's "The Potlikker Papers" looks at multiculturalism, conflict, and civil rights in the American South—all through the history of the region's food.