Ishmael Reed’s The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of several strands of recent work critiquing the narrative of one of the defining musicals of our age. For one thing, Hamilton wasn’t an abolitionist – and the musical utterly fails Native Americans, Reed and many academics have said. The play is about “‘a playwright who is misled by a historian of white history into believing that Alexander Hamilton was an abolitionist,’ and his path to learning Hamilton’s true story.” – The New York Times
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The Architecture Research That Is Changing, And Charging Up, Human Rights
Research architecture is the name for an organized movement of investigative journalists, AI experts, archaeologists, lawyers, and others who are engaged in “the politics of space, especially how it is manipulated by states and corporations against civilians and the environment – from drone strikes in Pakistan to mining in the Amazon.” – The Guardian (UK)
Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Historian Of Black Suffragists, Has Died At 77
Terborg-Penn didn’t let history departments get away without telling a fuller story than the one they had, for decades, been telling. Her work successfully “challenged the existing narrative that was dominated, and framed, by white activists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” – The New York Times
Ellen DeGeneres’ ‘Conversation’ With Kevin Hart Shows The Worst Of Talk-Show Culture
The talk-show host, who is “the most influential openly gay person alive, gave Hart a massive platform and let the homophobic tweets that led to him stepping down from the gig go unquestioned.” But hey, we’re all buddies here, right? Er. “At the exact moment when popular culture is finally reckoning with its bigoted history, the country’s most famous daytime host, whose own career was almost destroyed by homophobia, is prioritizing an agenda that does not serve the viewers who look to her for wisdom.” – HuffPost
The Architecture Of Cuarón’s 1970s Mexico City
For instance, there was the 1943 Cine Metropolitan, a movie theatre where a couple of key Roma scenes take place. “‘Cinemas were like this,’ he says reverently. ‘When I was a kid I would love to arrive 10 to 15 minutes before the beginning of the movie to see the curtain opening slowly and the expectation of what you are going to see next.'” – Los Angeles Times
Let’s Not (Ever) Forget The Glories Of Reading Iris Murdoch
“I had, I think, finally been introduced to the private world of reading that many people inhabit; a dream state I now regard as a portal to the act of breathing life into fictional worlds of one’s own. That first Murdoch novel seemed like a belief system transformed into story, given to me to make of it what I wanted, on my own.” – The New York Times
The Surprises From The Oscars Music Shortlists
The Academy had discontinued music shortlists after 1979 – but then it brought them back last year, claiming indies and small films from the first half of the year would have a better chance in the song and score categories. Oh really? – Variety
The Millions, One Of The Last Indie Book Magazines, Has Been Bought By Publishers Weekly
After a nearly 16-year run, The Millions, which was truly one of the last outposts of the early 2000s book blogging culture, has made a decision: “While the magazine’s coverage of books, arts, and culture [will] continue, it will now be as a property of PWxyz, the parent company of Publishers Weekly.” – Vulture
What’s Behind The Explosion Of Merchandise From Hogwarts?
What was a joke in 2001 is a reality in 2019: You can buy a Harry Potter egg cup and toast branding set or a Hedwig lip balm (really? Owl lip balm?). That’s because “everything changed last March, when Warner Bros announced a new brand: WIZARDING WORLD™.” In other words, the books and movies might be a decade old, but marketing is evergreen. – The Guardian (UK)
In Book ‘News,’ Most Writers Earn Below The Poverty Line From Their Writing
Wow, who knew? The news really is that things have gotten worse for authors, and there’s no surprise about the culprit: “The decline in earnings is also largely because of Amazon’s lion’s share of the self-publishing, e-book and resale market.” – The New York Times