Curated Video
The Future of the Past
Classicist Richard Janko (Michigan) describes his motivation to find new perspectives of the past, and his excitement at the possibility of retrieving long-lost manuscripts.
Curated Video
Bridging the Cultural Gap
Historian David Armitage, Harvard University, describes how trying to understand how our modern age can appreciate the ideas and other cultural forms of the past triggered his move from literary scholarship to the history of ideas.
Curated Video
Reversing Assumptions
Historian Maria Mavroudi (UC Berkeley) relates a formative insight that she received as a student from the eminent Byzantist Alexander Kazhdan about how to properly look at what makes a "great civilization."
Curated Video
Conflict and Plot
“Conflict and Plot” will help students to review the value of conflict within a storyline by examining both types of conflict: internal and external.
Curated Video
Theme
“Theme” will help students evaluate the concepts of theme and main idea within a piece of literature.
Tom Nicholas
Literary Texts: Introduction to Cultural Texts and Roland Barthes' From Work to Text
Roland Barthes' From Work to Text is a seminal essay which lays out why, in the humanities, we have come to refer to pieces of literature, films and many other things using the catch-all term "text". Because, we refer a lot to reading a...
Tom Nicholas
Marxist Literary Theory - WTF? An Introduction to Marxism and Culture
In this latest episode of What The Theory?, I hope to provide an introduction to Marxism, culture and Marxist Literary Criticism and Theory. We're going to begin with the economic theories of Marx and Engels, particularly their base and...
Curated Video
The Need To Belong
Roy Baumeister, University of Queensland, describes how, for the longest time social psychologists only paid lip service to the social world, and that his groundbreaking work The Need To Belong was motivated by an awareness that much of...
Curated Video
Static and Dynamic Characters
“Static and Dynamic Characters” describes the differences between character types used in literature.
Curated Video
Theme Collage
This is a video entitled “Theme Collage” which models how to determine the theme of a complete literary text.
Curated Video
Edith Maude Eaton: Fostering Cultural Understanding Through Writing
In a time when Chinese immigrants in America faced discrimination in all walks of life – simply because of their race – author Edith Maude Eaton channeled the power of the pen to help make positive change.
Curated Video
The Rise of Prussia | The Life & Times of Frederick the Great
This is the second Frederick the second I’ve talked about on this channel, ain’t that neat? Frederick II of Prussia was the son of Frederick William of Prussia and the grandson of George I of England on his mom’s side, ooh I am just full...
Curated Video
Society's Impact on Literature
A video entitled “Society’s Impact on Literature” which evaluates the level of impact that society has on literature.
Curated Video
Literary Criticisms
A video entitled “Literary Criticisms” which explores how to evaluate a literary work.
Teaching Without Frills
How To Retell a Story For Kids
In this video, you will learn how to retell a fiction story by describing the characters, setting, and major events from beginning to end!
Schooling Online
Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own - Chapters 5-6 Summary
This is the grand finale of Virginia Woolf’s famous essay A Room of One’s Own. Join us to find out how she brings all the strands of her argument together, and ends it with a poetic bang. What does Woolf see for the future of literature?...
Schooling Online
Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own - Chapters 3-4 Summary
Join us for a tour through literary history. In this lesson, Woolf explores the reasons why women have a less robust literary tradition. As the narrator peruses her bookshelves, we meet the heroes of women’s literature… and a few ghosts...
Hip Hughes History
Common Sense Explained: US History Review
Find out why I call Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", the "Book of Duh" and I relate to a colonial Oprah. Seven arguments from Paine detailing why we need to leave Great Britain HipHughes walks you through the basics of the first declared...
Brainwaves Video Anthology
Cathy Collins - Freedom to Learn
Cathy Collins has worked as a Library Media & Technology Specialist for 23 years at the K-12 level. She is currently serving as a Library Media Specialist at Sharon Middle School. She holds a Doctorate in Education with a specialization...
Vlogbrothers
Vital Status Report from NYC
In which Hank mostly goofs off with friends in New York. But, of course, there's a good bit of Paper Towns talk as well.
Vlogbrothers
Kindness
In which John discusses kindness, Hank's beloved dog Lemon, and Octavia Butler's brilliant novel The Parable of the Sower.
Vlogbrothers
Inside North Korea
In which John discusses life inside a North Korean concentration camp as reported by Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person ever known to have gotten out of North Korea after being born in the infamous Camp 14.
Vlogbrothers
John Reads the First Chapter of Turtles All the Way Down
In which John Green reads the first chapter of his new novel, Turtles All the Way Down. In it, we meet Aza, a young woman whose obsessive thought spirals do not seem to make her a particularly good detective.