The Arts

A chronicle of the lost history of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, reissued on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, with a new preface updating the constantly evolving public perception of Independence HallIndependence Hall is a place Americans think they know well.

Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings covers the history of theater as well as the literature of America from 1538 to 1880.

What is Hip-Hop?

Although the venue Off Broadway has long been the birthplace of innovative and popular musicals, there have been few studies of these influential works.

In 1812, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote three letters to an unnamed woman, whom he called "e;Immortal Beloved.

During the second half of the 20th century, the Caribbean island of Barbados emerged as a key player in the creation and nurturing of Caribbean popular music.

In this collection of essays, interviews, and profiles, William Banfield reflects on his life as a musician and educator, as he weaves together pieces of cultural criticism and artistry, all the while paying homage to Black music of the last 40 years and beyond.

Johana Harris was a musical prodigy who began her education in her native Canada, then moved to New York at the age of 12.

The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre: 1943-1965 provides synopses, cast and production credits, song titles, and other pertinent information for over 180 musicals from Oklahoma!

Often considered Romania's greatest musical force and a significant mind of the 20th century, composer George Enescu (1881-1955) achieved international fame and succeeded in incorporating Romanian spirituality into worldwide culture.

The standard location tool for full-length plays published in collections and anthologies in England and the United States since the beginning of the 20th century, Ottemiller's Index to Plays in Collections has undergone seven previous editions, the latest in 1988, covering 1900 through 1985.

Pete Seeger is one of the most recorded artists in American history, and his recording catalog tells us not just the story of his career but the story of our culture and its political and social history.

When writer and director Joss Whedon created the character Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he could hardly have expected the resulting academic interest in his work.

The Athletic Musician is an innovative approach that teaches musicians how to prevent and manage injuries, presented in a unique format that combines sound medical protocol with a musician's point of view.

Clarinetist Kenny Davern ranked among the best jazz musicians for over 50 years.

Born into a family of vaudevillians, Buster Keaton made his first film appearance in 1917 at the age of 21.

Unlike traditional music, film music sources are often difficult to locate and do not follow the patterns that researchers are trained to identify.

In 2005, Scarecrow published Movies Made for Television, 1964-2004, a five-volume reference set commemorating 40 years of every made for TV film since See How They Run debuted in 1964.

While there are numerous books on art and exploitation cinema, very few attempt to examine both.

First appearing in 1976, American Classic Screen was the publishing arm of The National Film Society.

Cinema Inferno: Celluloid Explosions from the Cultural Margins addresses significant areas (and eras) of "e;transgressive"e; filmmaking, including many subgenres and styles that have not yet received much critical attention.

Francis Ford Coppola's career has spanned five decades, from low budget films he produced in the early 1960s to more personal films of recent years.

The cinema of Japan predates that of Russia, China, and India, and it has been able to sustain itself without outside assistance for over a century.

Traditionally the "e;Chinese body"e; was approached as a totality and explained by sweeping comparisons of the differences that distinguished Chinese examples from their Western counterparts.

This Historical Dictionary of Romantic Music provides detailed and authoritative articles for the most important composers, concepts, genres, music educators, performers, theorists, writings, and works of cultivated music in Europe and the Americas during the period 1789-1914.

Surrealism was a broad movement, which attracted many adherents.

A Finalist for the 2026 Locus AwardsA bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.

A Finalist for the 2026 Locus AwardsA bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.

We seldom consider how much we mistakenly presume in hewing to definitions of music that differ dramatically from the standpoint of other cultures.

First appearing in 1976, American Classic Screen was the publishing arm of The National Film Society.

First appearing in 1976, American Classic Screen was the publishing arm of The National Film Society.

In 1927, The Jazz Singer heralded a revolution in the moviemaking industry with the advent of synchronized sound in full-length motion pictures.

African American Theater is a vibrant and unique entity enriched by ancient Egyptian rituals, West African folklore, and European theatrical practices.

One of the most powerful forces in world culture, American cinema has a long and complex history that stretches through more than a century.

For the better part of two centuries, Wesley scholars have been given a picture of the family of John Wesley that focuses positively upon the relationships of John and his brother Charles and his mother Susanna.

Adaptation Studies is a fast-emerging discipline which has expanded into other areas of media scholarship.

Something's Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the American Imagination takes a critical, comprehensive look at one of the most inventive, influential, and internationally beloved Broadway musicals of all time - from its inception by a brilliant quartet of creators (Robbins, Bernstein, Sondheim, and Laurents) to its smashing success on film, to its ongoing popularity on stages around the world and its potent impact on the Great American Musical.

Something's Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the American Imagination takes a critical, comprehensive look at one of the most inventive, influential, and internationally beloved Broadway musicals of all time - from its inception by a brilliant quartet of creators (Robbins, Bernstein, Sondheim, and Laurents) to its smashing success on film, to its ongoing popularity on stages around the world and its potent impact on the Great American Musical.

Nonfiction films about sports have been around for decades, yet few scholarly articles have been published on these works.

In his latest book, John Russell Brown offers a new and revealing way of reading and studying Shakespeare's plays, focusing on what a play does for an audience, as well as what its text says.

Architectures of Security: Design, Control, Mobility examines the relationship between architecture, security, and technology, focusing on the way these factors mutually constitute a "e;ferocious"e; architecture-an architecture, aesthetic, or design that is violent, forcing the performances and practices of sovereign power and neoliberalism.

Architectures of Security: Design, Control, Mobility examines the relationship between architecture, security, and technology, focusing on the way these factors mutually constitute a "e;ferocious"e; architecture-an architecture, aesthetic, or design that is violent, forcing the performances and practices of sovereign power and neoliberalism.

Edith Wharton's The Decoration of Houses (1897), co-written with the architect Ogden Codman Jr.

Adam Szymkowicz is that rarest of things: a full-time playwright.

Edith Wharton's The Decoration of Houses (1897), co-written with the architect Ogden Codman Jr.

Adam Szymkowicz is that rarest of things: a full-time playwright.

From climate change forecasts and pandemic maps to Lego sets and Ancestry algorithms, models encompass our world and our lives.

Best known for the hit musicals West Side Story and Gypsy, Arthur Laurents began his career writing socially minded plays such as Home of the Brave and Time of the Cuckoo.

Drawing on new research in the Stanley Kubrick Archive at the University of the Arts London, Kr mer's study explores the production, marketing and reception as well as the themes and style of A Clockwork Orange against the backdrop of Kubrick's previous work and of wider developments in cinema, culture and society from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

THE HEART-STOPPING MEMOIR, NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING SHAILENE WOODLEY AND SAM CLAFLIN, AND DIRECTED BY BALTASAR KORMAKUR (EVEREST)A compelling, at times devastating, ultimately inspiring account of how much can go wrong on the ocean and how, miraculously, one woman conquered her own fears.