Wonder Bread
Come with us to a place called Brooklyn, where the stories are half-baked and their endings bland and soft
By Melvin Jules Bukiet Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Genius and Her Sanctuary
Pivotal moments in the pairing of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
By Catharine R. Stimpson Saturday, September 1, 2007
Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice By Janet Malcolm
Atonality and Beyond
The century when composers and audiences parted company
By Sudip Bose Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century By Alex Ross, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Early End of Consensus
Bitter partisanship began soon after George Washington left the scene
By Jill Ogline Saturday, September 1, 2007
A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign By Edward J. Larson
Unto Caesar
Religious groups that have allied themselves with politicians, and vice versa, have ignored at their peril the lessons of Roger Williams and U.S. history
By Ethan Fishman Saturday, September 1, 2007
Swept Away
When Géricault painted The Raft of the Medusa, he immersed himself in his subject’s horrors
By Anthony Brandt Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Wreck of the Medusa By Jonathan Miles
Nurtural Intelligence
The discoverer of the Flynn effect claims that genes control IQ less than you’d expect
By Richard Restak Saturday, September 1, 2007
What Is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect By James R. Flynn
Words and Music
Two ways of thinking about what our brains can do
By Jennifer Michael Hecht Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human NatureBy Steven Pinker / Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain By Oliver Sacks
The Trojan War
Now even some environmentalists are supporting the use of nuclear power to generate electricity. One man’s story suggests the industry can’t be trusted
By William Nichols Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Writer in the Family
The fiction of E. L. Doctorow gave a young man hope of connecting his father and his literary hero
By Jonathan Liebson Wednesday, January 8, 2025
The Weight of a Stone
Searching for stability in an erratic world led Oliver Sacks and other writers to the realms of geology
By Megan Craig Thursday, January 2, 2025
“The Horses” by Edwin Muir
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, December 31, 2024
The Snow Maiden
Our final episode of 2018 is a send-off to the solstice
By Stephanie Bastek Monday, December 30, 2024
Ho Ho Horror
Why not make this Christmas a little darker?