PBS
Henry Louis Gates: The Bondwoman's Narrative
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discusses "The Bondwoman's Narrative," which is described as an autobiographical novel written in the 1850s by a female slave who called herself and her main character Hannah Crafts. The manuscript was found at an...
PBS
Michael Beschloss : The Conquerors
Book: The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany
PBS
Author Ann Patchett On What To Read While Staying Home
As Americans stay home to try to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, we wanted to provide suggestions for how to fill that time. Author Ann Patchett joins Jeffrey Brown to offer book recommendations for this strange time,...
PBS
Ronald C. White Jr: Lincoln's Greatest Speech
Book: Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural
PBS
Lynne Cheney: A is for Abigail
Lynne Cheney, author of "A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women" (Oct. 1, 2003) (Author Interview)
Crash Course
Gender, Guilt, and Fate - Macbeth, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 410
This week on Crash Course Literature, John Green is continuing to talk about Shakespeare's dark, bloody, Scottish play, Macbeth. This time around, we're looking at the play's characters operate, how the play deals with gender, and the...
Crash Course
The Louisiana Rebellion of 1811 Crash Course Black American History
Uprisings of enslaved people in the United States were not uncommon, and they had a big influence on how the institution of slavery evolved. One uprising that gets less attention, historically, is the German Coast Uprising that took...
TED Talks
Andrew Fitzgerald: Adventures in Twitter fiction
In the 1930s, broadcast radio introduced an entirely new form of storytelling; today, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are changing the scene again. Andrew Fitzgerald takes a look at the (aptly) short but fascinating history of new...
Crash Course
Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide - Hamlet II: Crash Course Literature 204
In which John Green teaches you MORE about Bill Shakespeare's Hamlet. John talks about gender roles in Hamlet, and what kind of power and agency Ophelia and Gertrude had, if they had any at all (spoiler alert: we think they did). You'll...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The tale of the doctor who defied Death
A husband and wife were in despair. The woman had just given birth to their 13th child, and the growing family was quickly running out of food and money. Wandering into the woods, the father encountered a skeletal figure with sunken eyes...
TED Talks
Jean-Baptiste Michel: The mathematics of history
What can mathematics say about history? According to TED Fellow Jean-Baptiste Michel, quite a lot. From changes to language to the deadliness of wars, he shows how digitized history is just starting to reveal deep underlying patterns.
TED Talks
TED: The creativity and community behind fanfiction | Cecilia Aragon
The wildly diverse, thoughtful and hilarious world of fanfiction -- where writers reimagine favorite stories like "Harry Potter," "Pokémon," "My Little Pony" and more -- is ever-growing and becoming a vital social and learning tool....
Crash Course
Free Will, Witches, Murder, and Macbeth, Part 1: Crash Course Literature 409
The Sound! The Fury! Today, we're talking about Shakespeare's Scottish play, Macbeth. So, was Macbeth really predestined to do all the murdering and bad kinging and other terrible stuff? That's the big question in Macbeth, and it's one...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The myth of Arachne and Athena - Iseult Gillespie
From sailors who were turned into pigs, nymphs that sprouted into trees, and a gaze that converted the beholder to stone, Greek mythology brims with shape-shifters. The powerful Gods usually changed their own forms at will - but for...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "A Midsummer Night's Dream?" - Iseult Gillespie
By the light of the moon, a group sneaks into the woods, where they take mind-altering substances, switch it up romantically and brush up against creatures from another dimension. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” sees Shakespeare play with...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Sylvia Plath? - Iseult Gillespie
Explore the haunting and intimate works of poet Sylvia Plath, who digs into issues of mental health, trauma and sexuality in works like “The Bell Jar.” -- Under her shrewd eye and pen, Sylvia Plath turned everyday objects into haunting...
Crash Course
Japan in the Heian Period and Cultural History: Crash Course World History 227
In which John Green teaches you about what westerners call the middle ages and the lives of the aristocracy...in Japan. The Heian period in Japan lasted from 794CE to 1185CE, and it was an interesting time in Japan. Rather than being...
Crash Course
Lord of the Flies: Crash Course Literature 305
This week, John i s talking about one of his least favorite novels, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Lord of the Flies is a novel of ideas, and John doesn't agree with the central idea of the novel, which diminished his...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: An anti-hero of one's own - Tim Adams
How can an anti-hero teach us about the heroic--and sometimes, the unheroic--characteristics that shape a story's protagonist? From jealousy to self-doubt, Tim Adams challenges us to consider how anti-heroes reflect the very mortal...