What the graffiti artist Blu should really be famous for
The graffiti artist Blu is more amazing than the canceled mural he was doing for MOCA in LA
From Egypt with love
If you’ve spent time in Egypt, the human warmth of this video will be familiar; if you haven’t, go
The Muslim Brotherhood had a monopoly. Can they compete?
Mubarak gave the Muslim Brotherhood an unnatural monopoly on opposition. Can they compete?
Fluid extract bottle: Paris, France, c1870s
The story of a 19th century medicine bottle, from the Marais in Paris
Guerlain container: Paris, late-19th century
A 19th C container by Guerlain, the French perfume house, ends up on the Bowery in New York
Reading Hani Shukrallah on what Egypt does now
The political revolution in Egypt needs a legal revolution equal to its values and moral force
Long Live Egypt 11 Feb 2011
Some day this new spirit in Egypt will feel normal. But not yet: I watch this film and marvel.
Triumph at last in Midan at-Tahrir
These 18 days of protests constitute the most beautiful political act I have ever witnessed
Extract for Eucalyptus Syrup: Melun, France, date unknown
An antique bottle of eucalyptus extract for the relief of respiratory ailments
Reading ‘How Democracy Became Halal’ op-ed in the Times
What a former CIA Middle East specialist gets wrong in his Times op-ed about the Egypt protests
A journey through the Khyber Pass in 1930
A journey in 1930 across the Indian frontier into Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass
The Green Man Ferro China bottle: Cairo, Egypt, 1994
A bitter aperitif from 1990s Cairo with an odd name and undrinkable contents
Where the Egypt revolution began
Egypt’s current demonstrations build on years of work by civil society groups
Shepard Smith’s moment of moral clarity about the Egypt protests
Finally, the American media abandons the pretense that the pro-Mubarak gangs might be spontaneous
La Baalbanaise arak bottle: Cairo, Egypt, 1994
Conjuring up neither the decadence of Baalbek nor the panache of the Lebanese
Why downtown Cairo has been the symbolic center of protest since the 1950s
Downtown Cairo burned on 26 January 1952; exactly 59 years later, it is the center of protest again
Portrait of Saad Zaghloul, leader of Egypt’s 1919 revolution
The tattered portrait of the man who led the Egyptian revolution of 1919
What makes Egypt beautiful
This exceptionally moving interview reveals what is at stake for the protesters in Egypt