January/February 2015

Photo caption

Self-portrait with bowler hat, circa 1885 by Paul Cézanne, whose lifelong study of the Old Masters is discussed in this issue.

Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY

Volume 36, Issue 1

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HUMANITIES: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities

In This Issue

The Original Miss Turnstiles: Sono Osato Starred on Broadway

Provocative casting in On the Town.

Carol J. Oja

Oil painting of Ambroise Vollard, sitting on a chair with his legs crossed and looking down at his knees.

Paul Cézanne Revered the Old Masters, yet Influenced Waves of Modernists

Always the student, even the famous Cézanne went back to the basics.

Nancy Locke

Black and white photo of Italian immigrants in Little Italy congregating outside a storefront.

What Sets Italian Americans Off From Other Immigrants?

Family and work for starters, according to a new TV documentary.

Vincent J. Cannato

Black and white photo portrait of a Chinese family.

The Chinese Exclusion Act Raised the Price of Becoming an American

A New Exhibit Tells the Story From the Immigrant’s Point of View.

Ross Yelsey

Also in this issue

Digital Boot Camp for Military Historians

An after action report

Meredith Hindley

James Thurber Lost Most of His Eyesight to a Tragic Childhood Accident

And Grew Up to See the World In a Bizarre and Hilarious Light.

Danny Heitman

Imagine Nation: How Pocket Maps Helped Poets and Subjects Reenvision England

A GPS for sixteenth-century travelers.

Mary Alexandra Agner

What Is Music?

An ethnomusicologist says he is not sure.

Patrick Burke

Archaeology from the Air

Charles and Anne Lindbergh find peace from the paparazzi in the Southwest.

Mark Athitakis

Neglected Boxes in a Basement Hold a Treasure of Early Film

A rare collection finds a new audience.

Tina Owen

A Jewish Veteran Becomes One of Baltimore's Early Globetrotters

Mendes Cohen traveled the world to bring back memories and artifacts.

Joe Sugarman

Veterans Tackle PTSD with Traditional Indian Healing

Sweat lodges serve therapeutic role.

Amy Lifson

William Byrd Was a Colonial-era Surveyor and Satirist

How he helped draw the line between Virginia and North Carolina.

Steve Moyer

New Biography of Cesar Chavez Unearths Gritty Truth

The charismatic organizer and leader faltered as an administrator.

Steve Moyer

Jules Witcover on the Ups and Downs of American Vice Presidents

Anna Maria Gillis

Maine’s Hayden Anderson Blends Practicality and Idealism to Advance the Humanities

From blueberry pies to veteran reading programs, Hayden Anderson applies purity of thinking.

Edgar Allen Beem

Editor’s Note

David Skinner