Michelangelo, God’s Architect
The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece
The untold story of Michelangelo’s final decades—and his transformation into one of the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance As he entered his seventies, the great Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo despaired that his productive years were past. Anguished by the death of friends and discouraged by the loss of commissions to younger artists, this supreme […]
You be You!
The Kid's Guide to Gender, Sexuality and Family
This is an educational children’s book for ages 7-11 that makes gender identity, romantic orientation, and family diversity easy to explain to children. Charming illustrations help children engage with concepts such as intersectionality, discrimination, privilege and allyship in a comprehensible and respectful manner.
Saint-Saëns and the Stage
Operas, Plays, Pageants, a Ballet and a Film
The stage works of Saint-Saëns range from grand open-air pageants to one-act comic operas, and include the first composed film score. Yet, with the exception of Samson et Dalila, his twelve operas have lain in the shadows since the composer’s death in 1921. Widely performed in his lifetime, they vanished from the repertory – never […]
Pushing the culture forward
Morgan DeBaun, AB ’12, and three other WashU alumni founded Blavity, a news and entertainment website featuring stories from a black point of view. Today, DeBaun is CEO, using the varied skills she learned at WashU.
The Cambridge Companion to Boxing
Boxing expert and American culture critic Gerald Early, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of the African and African American Studies department, edits this ultimate guide to one of the world’s most interesting and controversial sports. The Companion offers more than two dozen engaging and informative essays about the social impact and historical importance of the sport of boxing. While the book covers luminaries of the sport such as Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and more, it also tells the lesser known stories of boxing. There are essays on women in boxing, boxing and literature, boxing in Hollywood films, and boxing and opera. You can also get a comprehensive chronology of the sport, listing all of the important events and personalities.
Going deep: The ‘contagious energy’ of Opening Day
In celebration of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, Washington University students and faculty look at the statistics, physics, business and cultural significance of America’s pastime.
The physics of baseball
David Peters, the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has a body of work in applied aerodynamics and a host of academic honors, but he’s also a baseball fan. That’s why watching a baseball game takes on a whole new spin, aerodynamically speaking.
Making baseball fun again
The game’s history and traditions are rich, but they threaten to suffocate its future. The “unwritten rules” and the game’s entrenched conservatism are standing in the way of fun. It will take more than bat flips and a backwards ballcap to let it through.
Your March Madness chances, or putting a quintillion into focus
You — as part of the 10 percent of the American population who participates in this form of technically illegal gambling — have a 1-in-9.2 quintillion chance of picking the perfect March Madness bracket, says a statistical expert from Washington University in St. Louis.
African Film Festival to feature award-winning films
The 14th annual African Film Festival invites St. Louisans to see eight of Africa’s most acclaimed films on the big screen. Highlights include two Kenyan films, the controversial “Rafiki,” which was banned in its own country, and “Supa Moda,” a family-friendly film that one critic called “the most important superhero movie you’ll see this year.”
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