OUPblog | Oxford University Press’s Academic Insights for the World

Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World

From the new Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Classical Dictionary

By Lucy Grig
Read More
Speaking in and about tongues

By Anatoly Liberman
Read More
Shining light on sun safety for Sun Awareness Week 2025

By David Zheng, Rebecca McCarthy, and Shehnaz Ahmed
Read More

Living Black in Lakewood: rewriting the history and future of an iconic suburb [Long Read]

By Becky M. Nicolaides

In the annals of American suburban history, Lakewood stands as an icon of the postwar suburb, alongside Levittown, NY, and Park Forest, Ill. Noted not only for its rapid-fire construction—17,500 homes built from 1950-1953—it was also critiqued for its architectural monotony, alarming writers at the time who feared that uniform homes would spit out uniform people. That worry quickly faded when the demography of Lakewood began to change.

Cover of Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City by Dennis Romano

Your 2024 travel guide [reading list]

By Lindsey Stangl

Now is the time for crafting your resolutions and setting the stage for a remarkable new year.

Which imaginary book should you read?

By Ruby Dunn

Take this quiz to find out which fictional book would be a perfect next read for you.

How can business leaders add value with intuition in the age of AI? [Long Read]

By Eugene Sadler-Smith

In a speech to the Economic Club of Washington in 2018, Jeff Bezos described how Amazon made sense of the challenge of if and how to design and implement a loyalty scheme for its customers. This was a highly consequential decision for the business; for some time, Amazon had been searching for an answer to the question: “what would loyalty program for Amazon look like?”
A junior software engineer came up with the idea of fast, free shipping. But a big problem was that shipping is expensive. Also, customers like free shipping, so much so that the big eaters at Amazon’s “buffet” would take advantage by free shipping low-cost items which would not be good for Amazon’s bottom-line. When the Amazon finance team modelled the idea of fast, free shipping the results “didn’t look pretty.” In fact, they were nothing short of “horrifying.”

Back to work: body and etymology

By Anatoly Liberman

While the blog was dormant, two questions came my way, and I decided to answer them at once, rather than putting them on a back burner. Today, I’ll deal with the first question and leave the second for next week. Since the publication of my recent book Take My Word for It (it deals with […]

cover image a A bridge tio the sky by Glaire D. Anderson

From Abbas Ibn Firnas to Assassin’s Creed: The legacy of Medieval intellectualism

By Glaire D. Anderson

The dream of flying has a long premodern history. Think of the myth of Daedalus, the ancient Greek inventor who designed wings for himself, and his ill-fated son Icarus. Or think of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous sketches and studies of birds and flying devices.

cover image of Durers Lost Masterpiece

Albrecht Dürer and the commercialization of art

By Ulinka Rublack

Dürer´s “Praying Hands” are so iconic, but most people know little or nothing about the painting for which it partly served as a study. Looking at the story of that painting shows us a different Dürer from the arrogant, assured manipulator of new media he is often said to have been. It also opens a new window onto his time and the commercialisation of art

Title cover of "Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President from Washington to Trump" by Edwin L. Battistella, published by Oxford University Press

Janus words

By Edwin L. Battistella

January gets its name from Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates, and (more metaphorically) the god of transitions and transformations. What better time to talk about so-called Janus words.

English spelling, rhyme, rime, and reason

By Anatoly Liberman

The story of rhyme has been told more than once, but though both The OED and The Century Dictionary offer a detailed account of how the word acquired its meaning and form, it may be instructive to follow the discussion that occupied the intellectuals about a hundred and fifty years ago and some time later.

Five ways the British magnetic enterprise changed the concept of global science

By Edward J. Gillin

The concept of global science was not new in the nineteenth century. Nor was that of government-sponsored science. But during the 1830s and 1840s, both of these concepts underwent a profound transformation: one that still has ramifications over today’s relationship between specialist knowledge and the modern nation state.

Book cover of how to do research

7 ways to deal with the rejection of your manuscript submission

By Robert Stewart

Publication in peer-reviewed journals is an integral part of academic life, but however successful you are in your research career, you’re likely to receive a lot more rejections than acceptances of your submitted manuscript. Here are 7 suggestions on how to cope, understand, and learn from manuscript rejection.

Going on an endless etymological spree

By Anatoly Liberman

Noah Webster (1758-1843) knew spree and included it in the first edition of his dictionary. He defined spree as “low frolic” and branded it as vulgar.

Genomic insights into the past and future of the black rhinoceros

By Casey McGrath

The iconic African black rhinoceros faces an uncertain future after intense poaching caused a 98% decline in wild populations from 1960 to 1995. The species’ survival within its fragmented natural habitat now relies on dedicated conservation efforts. A study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution reshapes our understanding of the evolutionary and natural history of the black rhinoceros, opening a window into the species’ genetic past while urging us to forge a path toward its conservation.

Title cover of "Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America" by Stephanie Stein Crease, published by Oxford University Press

Chick Webb meets Chick Webb: Fact and fiction in James McBride’s new novel

By Stephanie Stein Crease

Chick Webb’s drumbeats resonate through much of James McBride’s fast-paced new novel “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.” McBride, one of America’s most beloved authors today, weaves Webb into this story early on.

Word Origins

More gleanings: cob, shark, cowan, and the rest

By Anatoly Liberman

The Oxford Etymologist shares his monthly gleanings on cob, shark, cowan, and more.

Title cover of "Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings" by Steven G. Rogelberg, published by Oxford University Press

10 things direct reports must do to get the most out of their 1:1 meetings

By Steven G. Rogelberg

1:1s are crucial in promoting positive outcomes in the workplace. It is essential that direct reports have a strategic approach to these meetings to make sure they receive the help they need to grow in their career.