Category: Popular Culture

Guest post by Marc Ferris The story of how The Star-Spangled Banner became America's national anthem and what took Congress so long to designate it as such is a fascinating tale that reflects the give and take between the rulers and their subjects over national symbols, the symbiotic relationship between patriotism and religion, and the song’s…

By Brian Shea, Journals public relations and advertising coordinator Thirty years ago, the journal diacritics published a special issue on nuclear criticism that focused on new ways of talking about the threat of nuclear war, which pervaded all aspects of society in the mid-1980s. Now, guest editor Karen Pinkus has put together a similarly-themed issue on one of…

By Brian Shea, Journals public relations and advertising coordinator Thirty years ago, the journal diacritics published a special issue on nuclear criticism that focused on new ways of talking about the threat of nuclear war, which pervaded all aspects of society in the mid-1980s. Now, guest editor Karen Pinkus has put together a similarly-themed issue on one of…

Guest post by Mike Gesker “Well, it was the Mardi Gras. It was New Year’s Eve and it was the 4th of July all wrapped into one. I never remember during my time in Baltimore a more joyous occasion.” That’s the way the venerable sports reporter John Steadman recalled the gala celebration of April 15,…

By Dean Smith, director, Project MUSE During a snowstorm in the early morning hours of March 29, 1984, fifteen Mayflower moving vans arrived at Baltimore Colts headquarters in Owings Mills. Marcia Luria, on her way to work at WCBM radio station,  saw the convoy of trucks headed down Reisterstown Road. “I got in and called…

Guest post by John Eric Goff, Ph.D. I take a slight risk with this blog post’s title because the one question I’m most often asked by someone in the media is: aren’t you taking something away from a great athletic moment by subjecting it to scientific analysis? My full-throated response is, “Absolutely not!” Viewing the…

Guest post by John Eric Goff, Ph.D. I take a slight risk with this blog post’s title because the one question I’m most often asked by someone in the media is: aren’t you taking something away from a great athletic moment by subjecting it to scientific analysis? My full-throated response is, “Absolutely not!” Viewing the…

Guest Post by Mark Osteen A sharply creased fedora rests atop the oiled hair of a smart-talking detective, whose steely eyes gaze at a seductive blonde smoking a cigarette. When they kiss, a slinky jazz saxophone plays. Hat, blonde, smoke, jazz: these are the signature tropes of classic film noir. But there’s a problem: the…

Guest Post by Mark Osteen A sharply creased fedora rests atop the oiled hair of a smart-talking detective, whose steely eyes gaze at a seductive blonde smoking a cigarette. When they kiss, a slinky jazz saxophone plays. Hat, blonde, smoke, jazz: these are the signature tropes of classic film noir. But there’s a problem: the…

Attention humanities scholars and lovers of literature: We're pleased to open the "doors" to our virtual exhibit in support of the 2014 annual meeting of the Modern Language Association. Simply click the banner below to enter and browse over 100 new, recent, and forthcoming books and our entire selection of academic journals. The books are…