Keepers of the Old Ways
Eliot Stein on the people keeping cultural traditions alive
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, January 17, 2025
“The Purse-Seine” by Robinson Jeffers
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Island Royalty
A new biography of a Caribbean revolutionary
By Madison Smartt Bell Monday, January 13, 2025
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut
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
Lessons of a Starry Night
A Rachel Carson essay teaches a new mother how to imbue her growing child with an awe for nature
By Kelly McMasters Friday, March 1, 2013
Found Fictions
A scholar broadens the canon
By Elaine Showalter Friday, March 1, 2013
Truth’s Ragged Edge: The Rise of the American Novel By Philip F. Gura
Kodachrome Eden
With purple prose and oversaturated images, National Geographic reimagined postwar America as a dreamspace of hope and fascination
By James Santel Friday, March 1, 2013
The Deal
Looking for an apartment in Manhattan takes patience, courage, and, sometimes, a bag full of cash
By Martha McPhee Friday, March 1, 2013
Coursera, Sera
A mixed message about MOOCs and other online college offerings