July/August 2015
In This Issue July/August 2015
Willa Cather in the Desert: Where She Learned What Truly Mattered and Found Material forThe Song of the Lark
Walnut Canyon in Arizona was the inspiration for key scenes in Cather's 1915 novel.
By Mark Athitakis
Volume 36, Issue 4
Willa Cather's visit to the desert.
—Gary Kelley
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Features
Red All Over: How a Tiny Bug Changed the Way We See the World
What makes the best red? The Spanish found out in sixteenth-century Mexico.
By Peter BG Shoemaker
The History of the Stamp Act Shows How Indians Led to the American Revolution
In the years after the French and Indian War, Britain's strategies to keep its Native American alliances sometimes backfired.
By Woody Holton
The Greatest Thing About Studs Terkel Was Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel interviewed all types, but his best character was himself.
By Peter Tonguette
Treasure Island Author Robert Louis Stevenson Was a Sickly Man with a Robust Imagination
His own life was one of contradictions, and he revealed both the good and evil in all his characters.
By Danny Heitman
Fighting for the Right to Party on Sundays
America's blue laws were a test of the minority against the majority.
By Kyle G. Volk
Berea College in Appalachia Charges Students Nothing but Expects Great Things in Return
A legacy of community and dedication continues at a college in Kentucky.
By William H. Funk -
Departments
Statements
Dancing for One Hundred Years at the Peabody Institute
The Peabody celebrates a tradition of innovation.
By Amy LifsonVel Phillips Knocked Down Racial and Gender Barriers in Wisconsin
A diminutive African-American woman became a powerhouse for the civil rights struggle in Wisconsin.
By Rosalind EarlyMyth Versus Truth in the Life of Calamity Jane: Ask Glenda Bell
Calamity Jane spit, gambled, and dressed like a man and became a Western legend.
By Forrest HartmanOne-Off
Decoy Collection at Vermont’s Shelburne Museum Gets New Roost
Archaeological evidence shows modern hunters were not the first to use decoys.
By Steve MoyerA Pair of Technologies Sheds New Light on Jubilees Palimpsest
An ancient text reveals a wider context for Biblical studies.
By Steve MoyerImpertinent Questions
Scrapbooking Was Big During and After the Civil War. Why?
In the nineteenth century, making scrapbooks wasn't just for the hoi polloi. Celebrities like Mark Twain clipped and pasted, too.
By Steve MoyerEdNote
Editor’s Note
Many of Cather's enduring characters were inspired by unyielding landscapes.
By David Skinner
