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
A Matter of Pride
The enduring legacy of Gentleman’s Agreement
By David Lehman Monday, February 10, 2020
The Ultimate Cost of Our Endless Wars
Could the debt alone deal a fatal blow to our democracy?
By Jerry Delaney Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Present-Day Thoughts on the Quality of Life (1969)
Jacques Barzun delivered this lecture half a century ago
By Jacques Barzun Monday, March 4, 2019
The Hedgehog’s Great Escape
A young Frenchwoman who ran the Allies’ most persistent spy group was in the Gestapo’s grasp
By Lynne Olson Monday, March 4, 2019
Orwell’s Last Neighborhood
While envisioning the darkest of futures and grappling with mortality, the English writer retreated to an idyllic Scottish isle to write Nineteen Eighty-Four
By David Brown Monday, March 4, 2019
At Play in the Fields of the Bored
America’s newest city parks are chock-full of things to do—but what happened to the delights of idle time in a natural setting?
By John King Monday, March 4, 2019
The Man Behind the Counter
A neighborhood grocer, inscrutable and gruff, lingers mysteriously in my memory
By Lynne Sharon Schwartz Monday, March 4, 2019
When Teachers Strike
Yes, strikes cause upheaval. But for some schools, upheaval is already the norm.