The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln
The hatter Boston Corbett was celebrated as a hero for killing John Wilkes Booth. Fame and fortune did not follow, but madness did.
By Ernest B. Furgurson Sunday, March 1, 2009
Visions and Revisions
Writing On Writing Well and keeping it up-to-date for 35 years
By William Zinsser Sunday, March 1, 2009
Dawn of a Literary Friendship
In 1969 the writer Robert Phelps first wrote to the novelist James Salter. Here are the letters that forged a bond of two decades.
By John McIntyre Sunday, March 1, 2009
The Dowser Dilemma
How a town in Vermont found water it desperately needed and an explanation that was harder to swallow
By Kate Daloz Sunday, March 1, 2009
Putting Man Before Descartes
Human knowledge is personal and participant—placing us at the center of the universe
By John Lukacs Monday, December 1, 2008
The Future of the American Frontier
Can one of our most enduring national myths, much in evidence in the recent presidential campaign, be reinvented yet again?
By John Tirman Monday, December 1, 2008
Affirmative Action and After
Now is the time to reconsider a policy that must eventually change. But simply replacing race with class isn’t the solution.
By W. Ralph Eubanks Monday, December 1, 2008
A Country for Old Men
Having reached the shores of seniority himself, the author finds a surprising contentment in the eyes of his fellow retirees
By Edward Hoagland Monday, December 1, 2008
Rage, Muse
The novels that revisit Greek myths, giving voice to the women who were scorned, wronged, or forgotten
By Wendy Smith Thursday, August 1, 2024
Martha Foley’s Granddaughters
What the esteemed literary editor never knew about the life of her troubled son, David Burnett
By Jay Neugeboren Thursday, July 18, 2024
To Catch a Sunset
Reflections on allergies, anxieties, and the limits of familial love
By Sandra Beasley Thursday, July 11, 2024
The Next New Thing
In architecture, the gulf between the traditional and the modern seems wider than ever before
By Witold Rybczynski Thursday, July 4, 2024
Imperfecta
Her brother’s disease leads a writer to challenge how we conceive of human abnormality in the emerging era of gene editing
By Pamela Haag Thursday, June 20, 2024
The Widower’s Lament 
After the death of the poet Wendy Barker, her grieving husband turns to the literature of loss
By Steven G. Kellman Monday, March 4, 2024
The World at the End of a Line
The grandson of one of American literature’s Lost Generation novelists reflects on his namesake’s love of the sea
By John Dos Passos Coggin Thursday, April 13, 2023
The Goddess Complex
A set of revered stone deities was stolen from a temple in northwestern India; their story can tell us much about our current reckoning with antiquities trafficking
By Elizabeth Kadetsky Thursday, March 2, 2023
Last Rites and Comic Flights
A funeral in a 1984 Japanese film offers moments of slapstick amid the solemnity
By Pico Iyer Thursday, July 28, 2022
The Believer
When nobody would touch Joyce’s manuscript, Sylvia Beach stepped in
By Keri Walsh Wednesday, June 15, 2022
