September/October 2015
In This Issue September/October 2015
King Tut: A Classic Blockbuster Museum Exhibition That Began as a Diplomatic Gesture
When the boy-king was the hottest ticket in town
By Meredith Hindley
Volume 36, Issue 5
A stopper from the canopic chest that held the mummified internal organs of Tutankhamun. The alabaster piece was one of the “treasures” discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings by the English archaeologist Howard Carter that later toured the United States in a blockbuster exhibition.
Leemage / Getty
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Features
Edmund Wilson’s Big Idea: A Series of Books Devoted to Classic American Writing. It Almost Didn’t Happen.
The origins of the Library of America were a messy business.
By David Skinner
With The Civil War, Ken Burns Reinvented the Television History Documentary and Captivated Millions of Americans. Here's How He Did It.
Documentaries have never been the same since The Civil War
By Peter Tonguette
To Bring the Humanities to All Americans, NEH Needed Local Partners
How the state humanities councils expanded and helped fulfill the mission of NEH
By Esther Ferington
A Romantic Notion: One Scholar’s Lifetime of Devotion to the Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The prolific Victorian writers have given him a very exciting and satisfying life
By Nicholas A. Basbanes
Chairman William Adams Reflects on 50 Years of NEH
Endowment's great mission and growing achievements are reviewed
By William D. Adams
50 Years of the National Council on the Humanities
The National Council on the Humanities is charged with a lofty mission.
HUMANITIES now available on issuu
A new way to read the magazine online that mimics reading it on paper.
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Departments
Statements
The Samurai Cultivated the Art of Peace.
Two hundred fifty years of peace in Japan reveal objects of extraordinary beauty.
By Tom ChristopherGospel Pioneers Took Their Show on the Road
A new film tells the story of how modern gospel got its start.
By Jael GoldfineOne-Off
Imaging Technology Reveals 15th-century Cartographer’s World View
Christopher Columbus likely used world map
By Steve MoyerCivil War Watercolors by Mapmaker Depicted Deprivation and Despair of Long Conflict
Robert Knox Sneden colored the record
By Steve MoyerImpertinent Questions
Walt Disney: In the End, He Wanted to Change How We Live.
Neal Gabler on the genius of Walt Disney
By Anna Maria GillisEdNote
