The Imbalance of Power

How the Manhattan Project gave birth to the imperial presidency

Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State By Garry Wills

The Lovable Leviathan

Whales hold a special place in our imagination, but their situation is dire

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea By Philip Hoare

A Long, Cold Road to Paris

The 2,000-mile, 40-day journey of future first lady Louisa Catherine Adams

Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon By Michael O’Brien

The Debacle Before the Disaster

At Dien Bien Phu, the French got a lesson the U.S. would take two decades to learn

Valley of Death: The Tragedy of Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam War By Ted Morgan

In the Shadow of Genocide

Impressions of a Turkish town that was once in Armenia

Rebel Land: Unravelling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town By Christopher de Bellaigue

Depth Wish

Response to our Winter Issue

Giving Absurdity Its Due

In the Panthéon, Albert Camus joins a kindred soul

Awe

The Writer in the Family

The fiction of E. L. Doctorow gave a young man hope of connecting his father and his literary hero

Birthday Boy

“The Horses” by Ted Hughes

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Amy Wetsch

Life, magnified

The Weight of a Stone

Searching for stability in an erratic world led Oliver Sacks and other writers to the realms of geology

New Year, Old Year

“The Horses” by Edwin Muir

Poems read aloud, beautifully

The Snow Maiden

Our final episode of 2018 is a send-off to the solstice

Ho Ho Horror

Why not make this Christmas a little darker?

A Story for Christmas

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