Shooting a Dog
During a deployment in Iraq, a young soldier confronts a fundamental paradox about the masculine temperament in wartime
By Hugh Martin Thursday, December 14, 2023
“The Coming of Light” by Mark Strand
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Selections from Hafiz’s Little Book of Life
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, December 5, 2023
In the Forest of the Colobus
At a Gambian nature reserve, troops of endangered monkeys—and numerous other creatures—enact a grand drama that plumbs the mysteries of life, death, and regeneration
By Dawn Starin Monday, December 4, 2023
Notes From the Front
Henry Kissinger’s Vietnam diary shows that he knew the war was lost a decade before it ended
By Thomas A. Bass Monday, December 4, 2023
All Dolled Up
How American Girl transformed the doll world—and why millennials love it so
By Jayne Ross Thursday, November 30, 2023
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