Arts & Humanities Archives

Arts & Humanities

The creation of the US presidency

By William E. Leuchtenburg

At no time in our history has there been so illustrious a gathering as the corps of delegates who came together in the State House (Independence Hall) on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia late in the spring of 1787 to frame a constitution for the United States of America. Yet, distinguished though they were, they had only the foggiest notion of how an executive branch should be constructed. Not one of them anticipated the institution of the presidency as it emerged at the end of the summer.

The precedents of the presidency

By Lindsay M. Chervinsky

The United States Constitution drafted in 1787 is one of the shortest written governing charters in the world. The majority of the 4,000 words are devoted to Congress, leaving a relatively scant description of the presidency in Article II. In many ways, the presidency we have today barely resembles the office outlined in the Constitution. Instead, the office was created and defined by the early office holders who viewed the Constitution as a good first step, but not the end game.

Prophetic libraries and books in ancient Israel

By Nathan Mastnjak

For most readers of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the question of the ancient material forms of the biblical books rarely comes up. When it does, readers tend to imagine the large scrolls made famous by the discoveries around the Dead Sea. Even the Dead Sea scrolls, however, are centuries newer than most of the Hebrew Bible, which may well have been written on different materials and in different formats.

Cover of “Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen, Oxford World’s Classics edition, with an illustration of a castle and people.

Before Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen and “Susan”

By Thomas Keymer

With hindsight, it’s hard to imagine a more spectacular publishing flub than the rejection of Pride and Prejudice in its first version (working title “First Impressions”) in 1797.

Remembering Gresford

By Ann-Marie Foster

Today, 22 September, marks the 90th anniversary of the Gresford mining disaster. To this day, the bodies of 253 miners remain in the pit underground below Wrexham. In 1934, the industry was rocked by the inquest into the disaster where accusations of forged documents, preventable deaths, and inadequate safety protocols were highlighted, echoing contemporary inquiries into disasters, such as the damning inquest into Grenfell which was published earlier this month. Nowadays, the disaster is remembered as a poignant moment in Welsh history.

3D Cover image of Dogwhistles and Figleaves

Figleaves: 5 examples of concealed speech

By Jennifer Mather Saul

In art, a figleaf is used to barely cover something one isn’t supposed to show in public. I use the term ‘figleaf’ for utterances (and sometimes pictures, or other things) which barely cover for speech of a sort one isn’t supposed to openly engage in. When someone says “I’m not a racist but…” and then […]

The horseshoe theory in practice: How Russia and China became fascist states

By Michael Kort

Three-quarters of a century after the destruction of the fascist regimes that threatened to extinguish freedom during World War II, fascism is back and again a threat to the world’s democracies. The irony is that this new fascist threat comes from two powers whose histories as communist societies presumably distanced them as far as possible from fascism: Russia and China.

Warsaw Tales: An interview with Olga Tokarczuk

By Antonia Lloyd-Jones

Ever since I first read “Che Guevara” in Olga Tokarczuk’s short story collection Playing Many Drums (2001), I have wanted to translate it. So, when I was asked to compile Warsaw Tales, it was one of the first stories to come to mind.

Dogwhistles: 10 examples of disguised messages

By Jennifer Mather Saul

Dogwhistles are one of the most discussed methods for politicians to play on voters’ racial attitudes in a stealthy manner, although they come in handy for manipulation on other topics as well. The key to a dogwhistle is this hiding of what’s really going on. Broadly speaking, a dogwhistle is a bit of communication with an interpretation that seems perfectly innocent—but which also does something else.

Cover image of "Between Borders" by Tobias Brinkman

The great Jewish migration from Eastern Europe

By Tobias Brinkmann

In 1899 a young Jewish woman published a harrowing account of her journey through Germany in 1894, based on Yiddish letters she had written during the journey. Maryashe (Mary) Antin’s travelogue “From Plotzk to Boston” stands out as one of the few detailed contemporary descriptions of a migrant journey from the Russian Empire to America. In the spring of 1894, when she was thirteen years old, Maryashe, together with her mother and sisters, left her hometown of Polotzk in northern Russia to join her father, who had moved to Boston in 1891.

A listener’s guide to James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” [playlist]

By Tom Jenks

Discover the musical veins of James Baldwin’s 1957 short story “Sonny’s Blues” as we mark the 100th anniversary of the writer and civil rights activist’s birth and hear from Tom Jenks as he reflects on some of these key musical works.

20 HBCU graduates that have shaped America [slideshow]

By Deondra Rose

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are dedicated to empowering students and alumni with the tools to drive significant civic and cultural change. Through their intentional focus on leadership, advocacy, and excellence, HBCU graduates have made remarkable strides in political, legal, cultural, and artistic fields.

Iris Murdoch on how to lose yourself in nature

By David Rondel

Anxiety is the most frequently diagnosed mental health problem in the world today. The handful of psychiatric treatments for anxiety that nowadays dominate the field are well known. But it’s worth remembering that philosophy also has a long and illustrious history as a form of anti-anxiety therapy.

Religious faith in contemporary society

By Roger Trigg

The idea that religious beliefs claim truth is an unpopular position in Western societies. Any religion can sometimes be out of step with whatever the current secular consensus about moral priorities is.

A duty of care? Archaeologists, wicked problems, and the future

By John Schofield

Archaeology needs to stay relevant. To do so, it will need to change, but that won’t be simple given how much needs to change, and how many of the things that need changing are systemic, firmly embedded both within disciplinary traditions and practice and within society.

Overconfidence about sentience is everywhere—and it’s dangerous

By Jonathan Birch

Years before I wrote about the edge of sentience, I remember looking at a crayfish in an aquarium and wondering: Does it feel like anything to be you? Do you have a subjective point of view on the world, as I do? Can you feel the joy of being alive? Can you suffer? Or are you more like a robot, a computer, a car, whirring with activity but with no feeling behind that activity? I am still not sure. None of us is in a position to be sure. There is no magic trick that will solve the problem of other minds.