What's new this month?

Your family is unique in all the world, but how do you best tell its story? Whether you’re starting with boxes (or digital folders) of photos, diaries, news clippings, recipes, and other mementos, or whether memories are your main material, documenting a family history can be daunting. Writer Mathina Calliope offers the tools and guidance you need to confidently create the most meaningful story to share with the people you love.

Nineteenth-century Americans were astonished to learn that discoveries of prehistoric fossils revealed that the New World was far older than previously thought—evidencing what is now known as "deep time," the concept that Earth is billions of years old. Historian Caroline Winterer traces the rise of this transformative idea as she examines how naturalists, explorers, engineers, and ordinary Americans unearthed a history more ancient than anyone could have imagined.

Urban renewal efforts in the mid-20th century ushered in a Brutalist phenomenon that reshaped Washington, D.C. But many of the high-profile public buildings designed in the rough, minimalist style haven’t aged well and their architectural significance is still debated. Angela Person and Ty Cole, curators of “Capital Brutalism,” at the National Building Museum, provide an overview of the exhibition, which explores the history, current state, and future of seven polarizing Brutalist buildings in the capital. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Presidential speechwriters provide a unique lens through which to view the nation’s chief executives. Learning about how presidents prepared their speeches and who helped them can reveal much about their views of the job. Author Robert Schlesinger explores the evolving role that presidential speechwriters have played over the last century and by extension how presidents have approached the bully pulpit.

For five weeks in early 1945, the tiny island of Iwo Jima became the site of some of the most brutal fighting in the Pacific Theater. The battle's intensity led Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz to remark, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Historian Christopher Hamner draws on primary sources from both the American and Japanese sides to examine its strategic significance to the United States’ effort against Imperial Japan; its consequences for the final stages of the Pacific war; and its importance to Americans’ memories of World War II.

Artists including Picasso, David, Goya, and others came to grips with the political upheavals of their day with heroic and searing images that elicit our admiration or moral outrage. Art historian Judy Scott Feldman explores this complex interplay between artistic expression and social, religious, and political content as she examines four historical turning points and the artists who responded to them with powerful artworks that continue to resonate today. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

Through classical texts and portrayals on vases and in marble, we can piece together the romantic entanglements of Greco-Roman deities such as Zeus and Leda, Eros and Psyche, and Apollo and Daphne. Despite their divine status, the gods of these myths grappled with feelings remarkedly human in nature, such as desire, jealousy, and the quest for revenge. Art historian Renee Gondek delves into Greco-Roman tales of love, lust, and woe as reflected in both ancient and contemporary artworks. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The period between 1300 and 1600 stands out as a tumultuous time in which artworks faced suppression marked by fierce, often religious-based debates over morality, beauty, and the role of art in society. Art historian Joseph Forte examines the motivations behind censorship and their consequences through figures ranging from Savonarola, who sparked the Bonfire of the Vanities, to painter Daniele da Volterra, whose coverup of male nudity in Michelangelo's Last Judgment earned him the nickname “The Pantsmaker.” (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Camille Claudel was recognized as a genius in her own time, and the details of her dramatic life—her relationship with August Rodin and the 30 years she spent confined against her will in a mental institution—have inspired movies, plays, a novel, a musical, and a ballet. Art historian Heidi Applegate discusses the extraordinary success that Claudel achieved despite the many barriers facing women artists, particularly sculptors, at the turn of the 20th century. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Have you ever found yourself pondering deeply cheesy thoughts: What makes certain cheeses smell, look, or taste the way that they do? How do I serve them? What do I look for when shopping for cheeses? And where are the best places to find them locally? Join Alice Bergen Phillips, founder of Washington, D.C.’s Cheesemonster, for a lively investigation that serves up all the answers—and a tasting, too.