With Good Reason

If the inventor of radio had not been so stubborn, perhaps 1,600 souls would not have perished when the Titanic sank in the icy Atlantic 100 years ago. Bill Kovarik (Radford University) looks at the history of radio and its effects on American politics and popular culture. Also featured: Local sports segments have been a [...]

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn transient from New York whose life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He married more than 50 women, and transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. In his new biography Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, John Turner (George Mason University) explores Young’s thirty-year battle with the [...]

The author of a new book about Herbert Huncke says his unrepentant deviance caught the imagination of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. Hilary Holladay (James Madison University) writes that Huncke (rhymes with “junky”) often said, “I’m beat, man.” His line gave Kerouac the label for a generation seeking spiritual sustenance and “kicks” [...]

Whether it’s a traditional hymn or a rock and roll Christmas song, many people say Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the music that marks this season. The sense of joy, comfort, or spiritual uplift comes in classical, popular, jazz, and even world music. Poet Tim Siebles (Old Dominion University), ethnomusicologist Ann Rasmussen ( College [...]

Christmas may conjure images of bourbon mixed in eggnog or hot buttered rum drinks, but biologist Lytton Musselman (Old Dominion University) is making his own cordials and spirits from wild roots, berries, and mushrooms. Musselman loves the distinct differences in flavor each plant brings to the liquor because, he says, “we are reminded of the [...]

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison was born Chloe Wofford in 1931. She was 39 when she published her first novel about a black girl’s painful coming of age in a white society. The Bluest Eye and many subsequent works have earned Morrison the highest accolades in literature and established her as one of America’s leading fiction [...]

1619 was the year the first Africans arrived on the North American continent. There were at least 20 of them and they came as slaves from Angola. But what’s often overlooked is the culture they brought with them. Many were Christians with European names like Jean Pedro and Angela, and some came from cities. Scholars [...]

Daphne Maxwell Reid (Virginia State University) is perhaps best known for her role as Aunt Viv in the popular 90’s television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring Will Smith. But before Daphne was an actress, she was a number of “firsts,” including the first African American homecoming queen at Northwestern University and the first [...]

No Hollywood marriage has ever managed to capture the world’s interest as much as the tempestuous relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The press scrutinized their every move, and the public couldn’t seem to get enough of their volatile romance. Nancy Schoenberger (College of William and Mary) is the coauthor of Furious Love: Elizabeth [...]

When online professionals gather for the annual edUi web conference in September, Waldo Jaquith will be among them. He’s a pioneer in using the web to foster more open and accessible government. His projects include Ethics.gov for the White House, States Decoded, and a website that allows users to watch video of floor action in [...]