In November 1861, the poet Julia Ward Howe took the melody of the abolitionist singalong “John Brown’s Body” and added a new set of lyrics meant to inspire the Union to righteous victory. The editors ...

For many Asian Americans, the path to adulthood is a sustained, multi-decade-long three-legged race, in which Mom drags offspring through a furious gauntlet of piano lessons and college prep, violin ...

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic," a quintessentially American invention, first appeared as a poem on the cover of The Atlantic Monthly, in February 1862. Now, on a commission from the magazine, Jon ...