Culture

America 250: How the US took over the world's jukebox

In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.

Oi! You in the stalls! Put that phone away and surrender to the art

As Rosamund Pike found out recently on stage, many people now experience the arts simply as content to be documented for likes and shares

From Cape Fear to Zoh Amba: the week in rave reviews

Javier Bardem is at his menacing best in a wild remake of the psychological thriller, and the jazz sax maven surprises with raw country rock spirituality. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

Rivals to The Christophers: the week in rave reviews

Jilly Cooper’s over-the-top TV industry romp returns, and Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel make a bracing artistic double act. Here’s the pick of the week’s culture, taken from the Guardian’s best-rated reviews

What happens when we lose a language?

A staggering 44% of human languages are endangered – with culture, tradition and whole ways of understanding the world at stake

'We feel angry

Thriving punk culture seen as response to frustrations at unemployment, urban violence, police brutality and deprivation

‘In every drop of paint he slurped, you see the Holocaust’: the genius and torments of Georg Baselitz

The German artist lived through Nazism and communism – and his horrific, shaming works, including a masturbating Hitler, forced his country to face its past. Yet in later life, he beautifully captured human frailty, portraying himself and his wife nude

Hey-nonny-bo! The woman reclaiming maypole dancing with dancehall and drum’n’bass

UK artist Linett Kamala was astonished to see a maypole in a Jamaican hamlet – a colonial relic, but one bringing joy. So she reinvented the tradition by ditching English folk tunes and adding bass bins, LED lights and pounding beats

Two Poems by Luis Muñoz

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The First Draft of Cultural History

Lena Dunham’s new memoir is a fascinating primary source of Hollywood in the 2010s.

My month in the tradwife world: ‘I can’t pretend I’m not enjoying myself at all ...’

In the past few months, there has been a boom in tradwife novels, while the accounts of influencers only grow more popular. What is it about this culture that makes it so compelling to young women?

I Swapped England for Seoul After Watching a Korean Teen Drama

I was on the verge of failing Mandarin, when a last-second pivot caused me to utterly fall in love with Korean culture, and send me in a totally new direction