Arts & Culture

Between its third and seventh seasons, the Doctor Who revival delivered episode after episode of fascinating sci-fi concepts, heroic stories, captivating characters, and hard-hitting moral questions.

John Portman designed buildings that amazed visitors and provided businesses with flexible, practical, and impactful spaces. As one memorial put it, his designs took “people away from the congestion of urban life to . . . spaces that are open and uplifting to the human spirit.”

In today's gloomy culture, Hiroshi Nagai’s work is a beacon of optimism—a reminder of the beauty man is capable of creating and the serenity that is his to achieve.

Mark Knopfler says of his craft, “if you’ve energized somebody . . . or you’ve sensitized somebody, you’ve made a difference.” In a body of work spanning nearly five decades, the Sultan of Song has continued to do just that: sensitize listeners to the drama of the oft overlooked.

At a time when few children make it to adulthood “with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact,” shows such as Star Trek: Prodigy are vital for teaching young people the values of science and curiosity.

Granting governments the ability to violate intellectual freedom by banning books from schools doesn’t help or protect anyone. It is an obscene way of stunting developing minds at a crucial juncture of life and handing the state yet another tool for controlling us.

Antonin Dvořák managed to capture a beautifully American sense of life: the moment of dawning opportunity, the first glimpse of the potential for triumph, of the chance to prevail that has always been the New World’s greatest gift.

Some say that you should reach for the Moon, because if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Unfortunately, despite its starpower, Fly Me to the Moon fails even to get off the ground.

Star Trek: Discovery's great potential and interesting story concepts are hampered by poor character development and ham-fisted treatment of moral questions. Nonetheless, it provides some quality sci-fi stories and it deserves recognition for setting up the successful, more benevolent Strange New Worlds.

The Mark Twain Project’s authoritative edition of Pudd’nhead Wilson is an important scholarly resource, a delightful read for Twain devotees, and an opportunity for readers at large to gain more insight into the author’s sincere, if imperfect, efforts to attack the scourge of racial prejudice.