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Of various portraits identified with Shakespeare, only the Chandos portrait (above) is believed painted from life

To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare

While skeptics continue to question the authorship of his plays, a new exhibition raises doubts about the authenticity of his portraits

Table of Contents from the First Folio

Folio, Where Art Thou?

One man’s quest to track down every copy on the planet

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Her new book says our views of Africa are outdated.

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What’s Up

The Tao of Tea, Beyond Pottery and Something in the Air

Counting on Grace

Excerpt from Elizabeth Winthrop’s “Counting on Grace”

This novel about a 12-year-old mill worker was inspired by a Lewis Hine photograph.

Author Pete Hamill

Author Pete Hamill

Pete Hamill, author of “Downtown: My Manhattan,” discusses what makes New York home

The first step in making charcoal from sugar cane bagasse is setting it on fire in a used oil drum.

Interview: Amy Smith, Inventor

Amy Smith, a practitioner of humanitarian engineering, wants to solve everyday problems for rural families in the developing world

Thomas Allen Harris with his family in the Bronx, NY (circa, 1977).

Interview with Thomas Allen Harris

Director of “Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela”

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September Anniversaries

Momentous or merely memorable

Lorenzo Da Ponte

Encore! Encore!

Lorenzo Da Ponte was a hit in Europe: a courtier, a cad, the librettist for Mozart’s finest operas. But the New World truly tested his creative powers

Steve Fossett is the first person to fly alone around the world nonstop.

Steve Fossett

On March 3, 2005, after 67 hours aboard his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, he became the first person to fly alone around the world nonstop

The roots of the women's suffrage movement can be located here: in Seneca Falls, the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated, with Susan B. Anthony) is a historic landmark. Of the right to vote, Stanton declared: "Have it we must."

How New York’s Finger Lakes Inspired American Notables

New York’s breathtaking Finger Lakes district has influenced historical figures from Mark Twain to Harriet Tubman

"Anaemic little spinner in North Pownal Cotton Mill" is what Hine wrote.

Through the Mill

Because of a Lewis Hine photograph, Addie Card became the poster child of child labor. But what became of Addie Card?

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Interview with Elizabeth Wilson, Author of “The Queen Who Would Be King”

Wilson discusses what drew her to study the pharaoh, and Hatshepsut’s enduring allure

Hatshepsut is depicted in the clothing of a male king though with a feminine form. Inscriptions on the statue call her "Lady of the Two Lands."

The Queen Who Would Be King

A scheming stepmother or a strong and effective ruler? History’s view of the pharaoh Hatshepsut changed over time

A stone statue of Hatshepsut

Climate Change

Time often shapes perceptions

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Last Page: The Wrath of Khan

Even IRS auditors will tremble in my presence

Madeleine Nash

Interview with J. Madeleine Nash, Author of “Storm Warnings”

Nash, a science reporter, discusses her most thrilling weather experience, and her fascination with the scariest forces of nature

Sloth bears will have their own amphitheater.

Trailblazers

This month, pandas and other exotic creatures go on view at the National Zoo’s new Asia Trail

Christopher Landsea and Stanley Goldenberg (above, aboard a NOAA jet) say there's not enough data to blame recent powerful hurricanes on global warming. Instead, they say, other air and sea conditions are responsible.

Storm Warnings

Is global warming to blame for the intensity of recent Atlantic hurricanes? While experts debate that question, they agree that tempests are headed our way

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