In an interview, scholar Alyssa Collins explains how her time spent plumbing the sci fi writer’s papers left her stunned by the breadth of her interests and the depth of her scientific knowledge.
Fifty years ago, did John Lennon tell us not to pray?
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Peter C. Mancall, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Descendants from the Pilgrims were keen to highlight their ancestors’ role in the country’s founding. But their sanitized version of events is only now starting to be told in full.
Who broke up with whom?
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Unbridled ambition and bruised egos created an irreparable fissure.
Black Saturday firefighters battling flames in Victoria. When we laud fire fighters as heroes, we fail to acknowledge the ongoing impact of the fires.
AAP Image/Andrew Brownbill
In commemorating firefighters as heroes, we can fall into the danger of overstating their ability to control fires, absolving ourselves of responsibility.
After opening in 1943, “Oklahoma!” was an instant hit and had a run of over 2,000 performances.
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The Broadway hit offered an escape from the anxieties of World War II. But the America it portrayed – unified, patriotic and white – rings hollow today.
Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas in 1918.
AP Photo/National Museum of Health
In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested in Virginia for the crime of being married. The couple helped spark an effort to strike down laws against interracial marriage in the United States.