May 31, 2017
Edison vs. Scott
The complicated story behind the invention of sound recording.
Read MoreRoundtable
Opinions and analysis from Lapham’s Quarterly writers and editors.
June 30, 2025
May 19, 2017
The Rest Is History
Reconsidering the Hollywood sign, inventing the department store, and transforming nature photography.
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May 12, 2017
The Rest Is History
Agatha Christie goes missing, Richard III gets restaged, and medieval toads find religion.
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May 08, 2017
The Accidental Avant-Gardist
Raymond Roussel’s lonely place in literary history.
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May 05, 2017
The Rest Is History
Going to the moon in 1683, defining the look of witchcraft, and combing the seafloor for treasure.
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May 03, 2017
Mild, Medium, or Hot?
How Americans went from adventurous eaters to plain janes—and then back again.
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April 26, 2017
Dancing for the Masses
In 1921 Isadora Duncan journeys to the Soviet Union in search of a more meaningful career.
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August 07, 2023
Monumental Mistakes
2023:
Fitness instructor carves his girlfriend’s name into the Colosseum.
c. 1850:
Thompson of Sunderland makes his mark on Pompey’s pillar.
May 22, 2023
Revolutionary Lovebirds
2023:
Writers on strike search for romance at the picket line.
c. 1945:
Young communists engage in party matchmaking.