Culture

What roiled the mind of Nebraska poet John Neihardt with whom Black Elk, the iconic Lakota holy man, shared his story?

Retro was not the antithesis to the sub- and countercultural experiments of the 1960s, it grew directly out of them.

See how Washington Irving, Clement Clarke Moore and Thomas Nast made Santa the merriest man in Manhattan.

A 1941 novel by a former Communist Party member about the dog-eat-dog scumbaggery of movie executives and the lying and artless bragging that Hollywood runs on.

Following the rhythm of Shirley Horn.

The cosmic collision of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway.

The far-flung tale of a murder song.

A memoir of the Family Stone.

A look into the life, art, and "wildness" of influential choreographer Martha Graham.

For a full understanding of any historical period, we must read the literature written while its events were still unfolding.

Why do they exist? Where did they come from? Can they be defended? The most pressing questions, answered.

The radical art of the Depression years.

Though his younger brother Isaac Bashevis Singer eventually eclipsed him, Israel Joshua Singer excelled at showing characters buffeted by the tides of history.

Throughout its botanical, cultural, and social history, the watermelon has been a vehicle for our ideas about community, survival, and what we owe the future.

In every generation, writers and readers find new ways to plumb the depths of Herman Melville and his work.

A new documentary, “Billion Dollar Babies,” shows how a product of Appalachian folk art drew the blueprint for all holiday toy crazes to come.

On the performance of authenticity and the native stories left to tell.

A pop star’s road map to decadence.

On the early years of America's chronicler of the Great Plains.

He was one of the world’s most celebrated and beloved stars. Then his adopted country turned against him.

In 1871, the Fisk University singers embarked on a tour that introduced white Americans to a Black sound that would reshape the nation.

Controversial artworks are flashpoints when artistic freedom and religious sensitivities collide.

On ramps, xonacatl, skunk eggs and more.

A conversation with the longtime director about “Rustin,” growing up in Kentucky, and putting on a show.

It is impossible to talk about the blues and country without talking about race, authenticity, and contemporary America’s relationship to its past.

The Moog synthesizer was one of the most influential inventions in 20th-century sound. With the recent sale of the Asheville-based company, a new era begins.

Nostalgia, idealism, and the policing of childhood.

How the album pays homage to hip-hop's mythical and martial arts origins.

Our favorite artists may not be our favorite people.

Louisa May Alcott is best known for Little Women, but she earned her first taste of celebrity as an essayist.