Culture

Two former anti-doping professionals think the fight against performance-enhancing drugs is doing more harm than good.

Since the 1920s, “highway hypnosis” has lulled drivers to disaster.

Behind the veil of middle-class acceptability, Archie comics shaped the conception of virtue in postwar America.

The roadside battle for people’s attention has been raging for more than a century.

Melissa Gilbert's lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of 'Little House on the Prairie.'

The seashore used to be a scary place, then it became a place of respite and vacation. What happened?

How a work of science fiction anticipated the coming of Trump.

How a South Asian immigrant became a Wyoming fast-food legend and received American citizenship - twice.

A history of horse racing, it's slang, and handicapping.

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom.

A series of illustrated children’s books endures as a classic. Was it also the author’s attempt to come out?

Why midcentury Americans believed the suburbs were making them sick.

Historian Isaac Campos traces the origins of the idea that marijuana causes violent madness…and finds the trail leads south, to Mexico.

"Texas Jailhouse Music" explores a time when Texas prisons promoted rehabilitation through a wildly successful radio show.

Americans tend to think of Walt Whitman as the embodiment of democracy and individualism, but have you ever considered Walt Whitman, the brand?

How American landscape painters, seen as old-fashioned and provincial, gained cultural power by glorifying expansionism.

Christian, criminal or cowardly? People once thought your hair could hold the answer.

D&D attracted millions of players, along with accusations by some religious figures that the game fostered demon worship and a belief in witchcraft and magic.

"It's still white history. And no amount of casting people of color disguises the fact that they're erasing people of color from the actual narrative."

By all accounts, young Bill Owens was a natural song-catcher, trawling across Texas in the 1930s, the golden era of American field recording.

The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin.

Why Broadway's biggest villain is worth a second look.

How the hit musical allows those who have been left out of the story to claim the narrative of America as their own.

A disenchanted San Franciscan rides west with a motley crew of pioneers.

Throughout the long and pungent history of humanity, smelling healthy has been as delightful as it has disgusting.

Uncovering black newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries can open up new possibilities for teaching African American history.

Why the campaign staple has been falling out of favor.

Who was the most prolific African American filmmaker of the silent film era? That’s a question that has us asking, “were there any?”

Who was Dave Prater?

Cold War modernists of the title do not seem to be the painters, sculptors, poets, and novelists who produced the original works.