culture

A brave band of scholars set out to save us from racism and sexism. What happened?

Without a shared civic narrative – the pursuit of liberal democratic self-government – the rival regional cultures of the United States agree on very little.

"I was always working on a theory of America."

You can thank Eric Voegelin for the right’s clichéd catchall critique for the left.

Christian moralists long promoted hobbies as a way to occupy idle hands, bringing the work ethic into free time. Today hobbies risk turning into side hustles.

136 books that made America think.

The anthropologist helped popularize both techno-optimism and the concept of existential risk.

A pop star’s road map to decadence.

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

His “Clash of Civilizations” essay in Foreign Affairs turned 30 this year. It was provocative, influential, manna for the modern right—and completely and utterly not true.

From European streets to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Jews have been deeply involved in the history of coffee and the café scene.

Sara Marcus’s recent book argues that from the Reconstruction to the AIDS era, a distinct aesthetic formed around defeat in the realm of politics.

Penmanship was once considered a window to the soul. The digital age has closed it.

Diners have always been considered a model of culinary democratization in the American public consciousness, but can they really be for everyone?

How Istanbul changed his career—and his life.

Anthem for a forgotten cohort.

Top Chef contestant Nini Nguyen shares the history of the Viet diaspora and how two cultures combined to create a whole new delicious Southern flavor.

Johnny Cash wasn't the only superstar to play in prisons. Music, initially allowed as worship, came to be seen as a rockin' tool of rehabilitation.

Why the history of science is of use to not only the sciences, but all branches of scholarship.

From the Statehouse to Lucas Oil Stadium, Arab American immigrants have made contributions across Indianapolis, according to IUPUI's Edward Curtis.