Culture

The popularity of his music signaled the emergence of a very different country.

A new movie relies on 19th century myths to portray the very British George Washington as a moralistic proto-American ready to pursue independence. 

America’s centennial in 1876 was celebrated with a grand exhibition that projected an image of unity and inventiveness in the wake of civil war and recession.

On the civic meaning behind trends in men's fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Late 20th-century culture wars over artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano set the stage for the transgressive Age of Trump.

How a phrase coined during the Depression became a national creed, a global brand, and a vessel for disillusionment.

The women who founded the 1980s-era Parents Music Resource Center portrayed it as being beyond politics. Its actions, funding, and legacy suggest otherwise.

To understand the history of the nation, look to the history of its sports.

From the 1970s-era L.A. Aztecs to the 2026 World Cup, the game too often sidelines those who built it.

The rousing urgency of the song seems to possess a power that, according to its own lyrics, “transfigures you and me.”

A new history of the Mets tries to turn the pain of losing into the struggle of class politics.

There's a lesson laying there: Make it local, embrace the commercial, and ignore the president.

In 1930s New York, Chinese opera was praised uptown but mocked in Chinatown.

Brian Wilson’s “pocket symphony” transformed pop into art, capturing youth, innocence, longing, and loss in the timeless masterpiece Pet Sounds.

Photographs of a forgotten pastime.

William Billings has been largely forgotten, except among music historians.

The Netflix documentary series keeps its distance from substantive questions about Hulk Hogan’s legacy.

Children’s books introduced Vietnamese refugees to US readers, often simplifying their histories and experiences.

A music industry crisis and a moribund liberal political establishment are driving a rediscovery of rock’s potential.

Frederic Edwin Church sold a nation on its own mythology. That was his making—and his unmaking.

What can explain The Story of Ferdinand’s remarkable appeal in its own moment—and its enduring popularity today?

The genre of Bob Seger and John Mellencamp reached across the ideological spectrum in a way that seems unimaginable today.

As “Mad Men” depicts, history reshapes people’s lives, perspectives, and interactions, often without them fully realizing that things have changed.

On the American renaissance of prose and poetry in the 1850s.

The route of war-based boardgames from Prussian military headquarters to Gary Gygax’s basement.

Slam Frank and musical theater’s Hamilton bind.

Lewis and Clark's influence on a nascent American literature.

Why is a right-wing press reissuing century-old adolescent mystery novels?

Ed Simon goes back to when the past was the future.

The 1960s saw a stampede of lefty folk musicians, but none as politically engaged as Phil Ochs.