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Books

The top ten toys rated by Purdue University engineers help children build spatial reasoning, problem solving, coding and design thinking skills, among others.

Engineers Pick the Ten Best STEM Toys to Give as Gifts in 2022

Children can build strategy, critical thinking and resilience during expert-approved play

This year's titles include Watermelon and Red Birds, To Boldly Grow, Budmo! and Diasporican.

The Best Books of 2022

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2022

From cookbooks to memoirs to food history, these ten titles will fill you up

J. Edgar Hoover (second from left) stands behind Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the president signs a bill in 1934.

How World War II Helped Forge the Modern FBI

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover consolidated immense power—and created the beginnings of the surveillance state

A scene from the Goodnight Moon immersive exhibition

Step Inside the Colorful Pages of ‘Goodnight Moon’

As the book turns 75, a new immersive exhibition brings the beloved children’s story to life

If Yonatan Adler's theory proves correct, then Judaism is, at best, Christianity’s elder sibling and a younger cousin to the religions of ancient Greece and Rome.

Is Judaism a Younger Religion Than Previously Thought?

A new book by an Israeli archaeologist makes the stunning claim that common Jewish practices emerged only a century or so before Jesus

Bob Dylan performing in San Francisco

Bob Dylan Analyzes 66 Songs in New Essay Collection

“The Philosophy of Modern Song” offers a peek into the artist’s approach to songwriting

In the more than 100 years since his death, William Still has been marginalized, sometimes even forgotten, by histories of the movements to which he contributed so much.

The Forgotten Father of the Underground Railroad

The author of a book about William Still unearths new details about the leading Black abolitionist—and reflects on his lost legacy

Maurice Sendak at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, in 1990

Maurice Sendak Imagined More Than Wild Things

A new exhibition, the first of its kind since the artist’s death, showcases his extensive but lesser-known body of work

American ambassador Joseph C. Grew (left) meets with Japanese Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda (right) in October 1941, two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Untold Stories of American History

The American Ambassador Who Tried to Prevent Pearl Harbor

A new book explores the diplomatic efforts of Joseph C. Grew, who was assigned to Tokyo between 1932 and 1942

The burial chamber of King Tut's tomb

How Howard Carter Discovered King Tut’s Golden Tomb

A hundred years after the legendary find, archival records tell the definitive story of the dig that changed the world

Twentieth-century porcelain dolls made by German company Armand Marseille

How Porcelain Dolls Became the Ultimate Victorian Status Symbol

Class-obsessed consumers found the cold, hard and highly breakable figurines irresistible

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, will hit bookshelves on January 10, 2023.

Prince Harry Moves Forward With His Memoir, ‘Spare’

The Duke of Sussex’s book will hit shelves in January

Put together, recent research on Tutankhamun—from new interpretations of X-rays and CT scans to studies of his footwear and mortuary temple—presents quite a different portrait from what is frequently seen in popular media.

Reimagining Tutankhamun as a Warrior

Recent research contradicts the image of the Egyptian boy-king as a frail, sickly pharaoh

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking in July

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Wartime Speeches Tell the Story of Ukraine

The Ukrainian president will publish a collection of 16 handpicked addresses later this year

The Misses Porter (as they were sometimes called) arguably created the modern historical novel, weaving fascinating, romantic tales out of facts and events culled from history books.

The Forgotten Sisters Who Pioneered the Historical Novel

Jane and Anna Maria Porter ruled Britain’s literary scene—until male imitators wrote them out of the story

A stained-glass window depicting Empress Matilda's voyage from England to Normandy

Based on a True Story

The Medieval Power Struggle That Inspired HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’

The “Game of Thrones” spinoff takes its cue from the Anarchy, a civil war that saw Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois vying for the English crown

Divers examine an iron anchor believed to come from the British antislavery patrol ship H.M.S. Nimble, which ran afoul of the Florida Keys' sharp reefs in 1827 while chasing the illegal Spanish slaver the Guerrero.

What a Spanish Shipwreck Reveals About the Final Years of the Slave Trade

Forty-one of the 561 enslaved Africans on board the “Guerrero” died when the illegal slave ship sank off the Florida Keys in 1827

“Ulitsa Sezam” sought to teach young viewers the skills they would need to thrive in a nascent market economy, with Muppets serving as fluffy mascots of democratic values.

When the Muppets Moved to Moscow

A new book details the tangled tale of “Ulitsa Sezam,” a “Sesame Street” spinoff that aired until visions of Russia’s democratic future faltered

Brigitte Lacombe’s 1996 photo of Joan Didion, who is now is the subject of a new exhibition at the Hammer Museum

Joan Didion’s Legacy Lives on in Los Angeles

The writer, who died last winter, is the subject of a new exhibition at the Hammer Museum

French writer Annie Ernaux

Annie Ernaux Wins Nobel Prize in Literature for Her Unabashed Autobiographical Writing

The French author is the 17th woman to win the prize

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