Culture

Mary Poppins is a black man

|

HENRY LOUIS GATES is a phenomenon in America, but virtually unknown in Britain. That may be about to change thanks to a six-part television series, “Into Africa”, broadcast over the past month on BBC2 and, from October, on PBS in America. Part travelogue and part ancient history, it is the story of a singular African-American confronting his roots from Zanzibar to Timbuktu.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Mary Poppins is a black man”

The trouble with stock options

From the August 7th 1999 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Angela Merkel in Frankfurt, Germany in December 1991

Germany’s former chancellor sets out to restore her reputation

But her new memoir is unlikely to change her critics’ minds

Blue books forming a winner rosette on a red background

The best books of 2024, as chosen by The Economist

Readers will never think the same way again about games, horses and spies


Elon Musk speaks at the Milken Institute's Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

What to read to understand Elon Musk

The world’s richest man was shaped by science fiction


Tech and religion are very much alike

They both have gods, rich institutions and secretive cultures

Woodrow Wilson’s reputation continues to decline

A dispassionate new biography chronicles the former president’s hostility to suffrage

The cult of Jordan Peterson

What the Canadian intellectual gets right about young men