Books

A wave splashes over the Malecón in Havana.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Cuba

Homage to Havana

A Smithsonian director ponders the allure of Cuba's capital city

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Cuba

What to Read, Watch and Download Before Your Trip to Cuba

Know before you go

H.G. Wells was one of the first science fiction writers.

The Many Futuristic Predictions of H.G. Wells That Came True

Born 150 years ago, H.G. Wells predicted, and inspired, inventions from the laser to email

“Three days after the attack on the armored train, Churchill arrived in Pretoria, the Boer capital, with the other British prisoners of war. Surrounded by curious Boers eager to see the new prisoners, he glared back at them with unconcealed hatred and resentment. Although he respected the enemy on the battlefield, the idea that average Boers would have any control over his fate enraged him.”

Even When He Was in His 20s, Winston Churchill Was Already on the Verge of Greatness

The future Prime Minister became known throughout Britain for his travails as a journalist during the Boer War

Pablo Picasso by Albert Eugene Gallatin, 1934

Commentary

Why It Takes a Great Rivalry to Produce Great Art

Smithsonian historian David Ward takes a look at a new book by Sebastian Smee on the contentious games artists play

Bicycle made by Raleigh in the 1980s in 893 pieces

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These Photos of Deconstructed Devices Reveal Their Hidden Beauty

Engineer-artist Todd McLellan finds marvel in blowing out the mundane

Robert Motherwell writing at his desk in Amagansett, New York, June 1944

These Letters Written by Famous Artists Reveal the Lost Intimacy of Putting Pen to Paper

Many of the letters included in a new book provide snapshots of especially poignant moments in the lives of American artists

Not always your friend.

A Neuroscientist Tells You What’s Wrong With Your Brain

Dean Burnett’s new book, Idiot Brain, explains why your mind evolved to thwart you

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Commentary

Should We Hate Poetry?

It was precisely because poetry wasn’t hated that Plato feared it, writes the Smithsonian’s senior historian David Ward, who loves poetry

“Brian Bilston” sits above his parody of a W. B. Yeats poem.

Why Twitter's "Poet Laureate" Has No Plans to Unmask His Real Identity

He tweets under the guise of @Brian_Bilston and uses the platform to reinvent the age-old form of writing

The dueling heroines take the lead in a fight for the town’s soul.

Why Betty and Veronica Are the Real Stars of Riverdale

In a reboot of the classic Archie comics, the two female leads take charge

Edna O’Brien pictured in late 2013

Novelist Edna O'Brien Explores the True Nature of Evil

Celebrated for her books about love, the writer might finally win a Nobel Prize for something darker

The Fantastic Mr. Dahl

The British author’s world—antic, subversive, wildly inventive and monstrously humane—returns to the screen in Steven Spielberg’s <i>The BFG</i>

Tucked inside the campus of Indiana University, the Lilly Library is your one-stop shop for rare cultural treasures

See the Gutenberg Bible, 32,000 3D Mechanical Puzzles and a Lock of Edgar Allen Poe’s Hair at This Rare Library

Curiosity is a credential at Indiana University Library’s Lilly Library

"Beach at Bologne" by Edouard Manet

Inventing the Beach: The Unnatural History of a Natural Place

The seashore used to be a scary place, then it became a place of respite and vacation. What happened?

The Consuegra Windmills.

Relive 'Don Quixote' With a Trip Through Miguel de Cervantes’ Spain

Tilt at windmills for the 400th anniversary of the author's death

The Rolling Stones performing live at Summerfest, Milwaukee, on 23 June 2015

For Rolling Stones Fans, This Book Is a Dream Come True

Journalist and author Rich Cohen first covered the Stones on tour in the 90s. Now he revisits that trip and the band’s epic history

Andrew Jackson's official White House portrait by Ralph E.W. Earl.

What the Politics of Andrew Jackson’s Era Can Tell Us About Today

NPR correspondent Steve Inskeep speaks about his book <em>Jacksonland</em> and what it says about America’s democratic tradition

Is the Internet an Enormous Work of Realist Art?

Journalist Virginia Heffernan makes a compelling case that it is in a new book

Today, most poor renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing.

History of Now

Experts Have Been Studying Income Inequality for Decades. Has Anything Changed?

The author of the blockbuster book Evicted talks about those who came before him

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