More from Open Culture
It’s been said that the United States won the Cold War without firing a shot — a statement, as P. J. O’Rourke once wrote, that doubtless surprised veterans of Korea and Vietnam. But it wouldn’t be entirely incorrect to call the long stare-down between the U.S. and the Soviet Union a battle of ideas. Dwight […]
Working a dull civil service job ill-suited to your talents does not make you a writer, but plenty of famous writers have worked such jobs. Nathaniel Hawthorne worked at a Boston customhouse for a year. His friend Herman Melville put in considerably more time—19 years—as a customs inspector in New York, following in the footsteps of […]
It would be a worthwhile exercise for any of us to sit down and attempt to draw up a list of our 100 favorite paintings of all time. Naturally, those not professionally involved with art history may have some trouble quite hitting that number. Still, however many titles we can write down, each of us […]
We’ve previously written about one of Leonard Bernstein’s major works, The Unanswered Question, the staggering six-part lecture that the multi-disciplinary artist gave as part of his duties as Harvard’s Charles Eliot Norton Professor. Over 11 hours, Bernstein attempts to explain the whither and the whence of music history, notably at a time when Classical music […]
If you’re under 60, you probably heard the line “I read the news today, oh boy” before encountering the song it opens. Even after you discovered the work of the Beatles, it may have taken you some time to understand what, exactly, it was that John Lennon read in the news. The “lucky man who […]
More in history
“Photographs are born of the positives and negatives accumulated in a lifetime.” – Al Jaffee Brooklyn-born Jay Jaffee (1921 – 1999) takes us to a New York City of energy, isolation, emotion and ambition. His sublime black-and-white photographs evoke stories in their textured and balanced blend of of lights and shadow. Having served as … Continue reading "New York City Streets by Al Jaffee" The post New York City Streets by Al Jaffee appeared first on Flashbak.
As the Roman Empire fell into serious decline in the 5th century, there were several attempts to restore Roman power amid the invasion of outside groups and social problems. The Emperor Majorian came close to reconnecting the Roman Empire in the middle of the 5th century, coming up just short of restoring Roman power […]
‘The Illegals’ by Shaun Waker review JamesHoare Wed, 06/04/2025 - 08:04