Culture & Religion

“I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at,” Georgia O’Keeffe once said of her abstract works, “not copy it.” Famous for her […]

Imagine it’s 1178 BC and you’re in the middle of writing one of the most essential works in the western canon, when all of the sudden an intense eclipse takes […]

Can the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in The Hague, which resumed this week after he boycotted for four months, be prevented from descending into a farce?

The New Republic reviews “Heather Has Two Mommies,” one of the first books aimed at young children to tackle the taboo of depicting same-sex partners as parents.

Senator Scott Brown’s committee assignments include joining the Armed Services, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs; a posting which tilts too far toward defense for some.

You can ruin your child by inflating their self esteem and giving themtoo little sleep, according to the The Washington Post’s George F. Will, so do them a favor and pipe down.

Is there a more iconic piece of Americana? The sashes and tiaras, canned responses about world peace, and of course the not-so-genuine hug between the champion and runner-up. But the […]

Jason Epstein thought of Amazon before Jeff Bezos. Or at least, he understood the concept: the necessity, and power, of making the world’s backlist available at all times. Epstein’s uniquely […]

Scientologists defied copyright law for their latest promotional video, using clips from “Star Wars”, “Braveheart” and “Independence Day” to fire up its Las Vegas staff.

It’s the perfect pairing, writes Salon: Sarah Palin and Jay Leno, who share a common foe in David Letterman, teamed up to deliver a blow to his ratings on Tuesday night.

Tut tut Nicolas Chartier, producer of Oscar nominated film ‘Hurt Locker, whose scathing emails about other nominees have landed him in hot water and banned from the awards.

Being underestimated was not a misfortune for Clint Eastwood, who used it to his advantage to forge an astonishing career which is still going, writes the New Yorker.

Director of a Washington theatre company Ann Norton will never be able to portray the drama of her life’s tragedies on stage as they are “too melodramatic” to be believed.

The eroticism of Gustav Klimt’s painting is obvious to anyone who has enjoyed his art. A new exhibition at the Secession in Vienna, Austria will make that eroticism obvious to […]

The head of a “colossal” granite statue of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, dating back 3,000 years, has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt.

The United States achieved a record 37 medals at the Vancouver Olympics despite losing to Canada in yesterday’s gold-chasing ice hockey game.

Former Bosnian leader Radovan Karadzic has said that the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was “just and holy” in his defense at the genocide trial at The Hague.

Recarving Our Cultural Totem Pole is a book-in-progress. While researching a series a couple of years ago, I came across the customs and rituals surrounding the design, care and feeding […]

Like the first life forms on Earth, the career of John Singer Sargent rose up from the sea. Between 1874 and 1879, when Sargent first emerged from his teens and […]

Randy Kennedy’s “The Free-Appropriation Writer,” in today’s New York Times Week in Review, considers the ever-sensitive spectrum of borrowing (said another way, flattery; said another way, plagiarism) that has historically […]

Humanities education in America is facing a crisis at the highest levels, writes The New Republic, as job prospects dwindle and graduate researchers multiply.

Jason Epstein writes that the publishing transition from print to digital is inevitable, and a powerful yet fragile process that can expand literacy and knowledge.

 So, let’s say you’ve achieved 80’s rock stardom, complete with the bar tours, a beer commercial, historically singular hair cuts, and even an album called “Smoking in the Fields”—where does […]

The nation’s top playwrights are turning increasingly to TV where producers are shooting programs on one or two sets to reduce costs as budgets are being squeezed.

We want to be “post-racial,” the media tells you, if you read the newspaper or watch TV. We want to “transcend race” is a phrase you have heard ever since […]

Vanity Fair’sPresidential Profiles, edited by Graydon Carter, is a jewel. Or, a jewel-box: a tiny, elegantly conceived, and ruthlessly crafted jewel-box of a book. It will make you wish you’d […]

The denial of an appeal against the August 2009 sentencing of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been condemned by UK foreign minister Ivan Lewis.

As weird and wonderful film director Tim Burton’s take on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ opens, he talks to The Independent about the origins of his demons and original outlook.

NBC Universal plans to bring well-known big-screen characters including Bridget Jones, Billy Elliot, and Nanny McPhee to our television screens, with plans for drama adaptations.

I used to picture my neighbors, my bosses, my drinking buddies, all faithfully keeping thoughts of racial conflict out of their minds the same way the pop-up zapper software on […]