Blood—and Beauty—at the Root
Fifty years ago, Alex Haley’s landmark novel changed the way many Americans thought about race
By Brandon Tensley Monday, June 15, 2026
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World by Lucas L. Johnson II
In Defense of Difficult Reading
The tomes of the past cultivate the lost art of sustained attention
By Todd Shy Friday, June 5, 2026
What’s So Great About the Great Books?: Why You Should Read Classic Literature (Even Though It Might Destroy You) Naomi Kanakia
Inside Man
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
By Anne Matthews Monday, June 1, 2026
How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University By Theo Baker
Things Fall Apart
A meditation on entropy, obsolescence, and death
By Steven G. Kellman Monday, June 1, 2026
How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information By Thomas S. Mullaney
Into the Wilds
The tangled terrain of untrammeled lands
By Miranda Weiss Monday, June 1, 2026
The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness By Cal Flyn
The Painter Time Forgot
An overdue reckoning of an artist’s volcanic genius
By Rebecca Bedell Monday, June 1, 2026
Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World By Victoria Johnson
Where Are We?
Finding our bearings has never been so risky
By Peter Turchi Monday, June 1, 2026
Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World By Katherine Dunn
Canonical Contempt
Even in the 18th century, Edward Gibbon’s misogyny set him apart
By Michael O'Donnell Monday, June 1, 2026
The Conversions of Edward Gibbon: A Modern Biography By Martha Saxton
Books Are a Star’s Best Friend
The little-known reading habits of a Hollywood icon
By Noah Isenberg Thursday, May 28, 2026
Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe by Gail Crowther
Who Is Thinking?
The quest to discover the answer to an age-old question
By T. M. Luhrmann Thursday, May 7, 2026
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness By Michael Pollan
Hold the Salt
Reconsidering an ancient city’s bad reputation
By Charles G. Salas Friday, January 23, 2026
Carthage: A New Historyby Eve MacDonald
Scientists in Dreamland
What might our nightly visions mean?
By Alice Vernon Thursday, January 15, 2026
Nightmare Obscura: A Dream Engineer's Guide Through the Sleeping Mindby Michelle Carr
Conjurer of Worlds
The writer who made fantasy history
By Michael O'Donnell Monday, December 1, 2025
The Tower and the Ruin: J. R. R. Tolkien's Creationby Michael D. C. Drout
Compassionate Curmudgeon
Why we must root ourselves in the real world
By Robert Zaretsky Monday, December 1, 2025
Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy's Greatest Pessimistby David Bather Woods
Swept Away
A gusty tour of one of our planet’s primordial forces
By Juli Berwald Monday, December 1, 2025
The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Windby Simon Winchester
Making Trouble
A British aristocrat’s leftist noblesse oblige
By Charles Trueheart Monday, December 1, 2025
Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitfordby Carla Kaplan
All His Biographers Merely Players
Retracing the Bard’s lost years
By Rachel Shteir Monday, December 1, 2025
The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeareby Daniel Swift
Playwright, Poet, Outsider, Spy
The Wayward Scholar of the London Stage
By Steven G. Kellman Friday, November 14, 2025
A Stranger Everywhere
The inner world of one of America’s great warrior poets
By Nicholas Buccola Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Baldwin: A Love StoryNicholas Boggs
The Matriarch of Spiritual Revolution
Was Mary the real source of her prophet son’s teachings?
By Randy Rosenthal Thursday, October 2, 2025
The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesusby James D. Tabor
