In 1956, Harry Belafonte's "Calypso" established a historic landmark in becoming the first LP to sell more than a million copies. For a few fleeting months, calypso music was the top selling genre in the US – it even threatened to supplant rock and r...

In the mysterious and pristine forests of the tropics, a wealth of ethnobotanical panaceas and shamanic knowledge promises cures for everything from cancer and AIDS to the common cold. To access such miracles, we need only to discover and protect the...

Not for sale in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic! The Sino-Tibetan language family is the second largest in the world, and standard Tibetan is the most widely spoken language in the Tibetic group. A comprehensive introduction to epistemic...

Stretching lengths of yarn across interior spaces, American artist Fred Sandback (1943-2003) created expansive works that underscore the physical presence of the viewer. This book, the first major study of Sandback, explores the full range of his art...

"I due Foscari" enjoys pride of place among Verdi's early operas for its commanding music and striking use of recurring themes to identify the principal characters. Here, the young composer can be seen experimenting with new means of musical and dram...

So begins the "Aeneid", greatest of Western epic poems. Virgil's story of the journey of Aeneas has been a part of our cultural heritage for so many centuries that it's all too easy to lose sight of the poem itself – of its brilliantly cinematic depi...

Issue 43 of "Afterall" reflects on artistic practices that challenge the legacies of colonialism. Looking at the work of Chimurenga, Lubaina Himid, and Duane Linklater, among others, contributions ask how artists can create self-initiated structures...

Whether referring to a place, a nonhuman animal or plant, or a state of mind, wild indicates autonomy and agency, a will to be, a unique expression of life. Yet two contrasting ideas about wild nature permeate contemporary discussions: either that na...

While the influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) looms large over the natural sciences, his legacy reaches far beyond the field notebooks of naturalists. Von Humboldt's 1799-1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist...

What do we learn by making art? What do we discover by discussing our art with other people? These are the questions at the heart of "No New Kind of Duck", which documents an exchange between Jan Verwoert and artists, critics, and other researchers a...