How Traffic Circles Became Ground Zero for the French Middle Class

Garrisoned in Roundabouts, ‘Yellow Vest’ Protesters Want Urban Elites to Respect Their Suburban Dream

Just over 50 years ago, Jacques Tati’s Playtime opened in French movie theaters. In the comedy, Tati once again features his iconic character, Monsieur Hulot, the confused but courtly Parisian who confronts the challenges of a rapidly modernizing France. This time, Mr. Hulot tries to navigate the shining and sleek newly developed periphery of Paris, suddenly bristling with buildings and streets that are indistinguishable from one another. The camera captures the hopelessness of Mr. Hulot’s quest when it focuses on a rond-point, or traffic circle, around which slow-moving cars and buses, …

by Robert Zaretsky | December 5, 2018

How Our View of National Parks Shapes American Identity

What We Seek and Find in Our Sacred Environments Reflects Our Country’s Character

November 30, 2018

Few natural regions have been photographed as often, or in such varied ways, as the American West. Many of these alluring, emotionally resonant landscapes lie within the boundaries of national …

Why the ‘New Nationalism’ Can Only Flourish in Conflict

Built on Hatred, and the Need for an Adversary, It Thrives on Contempt for Other Cultures, Religions, and Even Languages

by Anthony Pagden | November 19, 2018

Nationalism as we know it today—a global movement of states led by strongmen decrying globalization—is a recent invention. But a brief and broad history of nationalism reveals its important paradoxes …

The Savvy Press Agent Who Invented Buffalo Bill

“Arizona John” Burke Perfected the Art of Hype That Converted a Bison Hunter Into a Symbol of National Character

by Joe Dobrow | October 18, 2018

To appreciate the wonder and luster of a star in the sky, one must look off to its side—“averted vision,” it is called.

So it was in the late 19th century …

What Does It Mean to Be a ‘Local’ in Hawai‘i?

A Honolulu-Born Writer Reflects on How Demographic and Economic Change Are Making an Idealized Aloha State Identity Obsolete

by Peter Hong | October 9, 2018

The story of the modern Hawai‘i diaspora is a paradox: Many of us who grew up in Hawai‘i in the second half of the 20th century developed a powerful sense …

The Notorious, Mixed-Race New Orleans Madam Who Turned Her Identity Into a Brand

By Repackaging the Myths of the Tragic Octoroon and the Self-Made Woman, Lulu White Crafted a Persona That Haunts Beyoncé’s “Formation”

by Emily Epstein Landau | October 1, 2018

In 2016, music and pop-culture idol Beyoncé released the album Lemonade to rapturous reviews. As a historian of New Orleans, I was especially intrigued by the video for one of …

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