Getting Better All the Time
Although you wouldn’t know it by watching the local news, humankind is becoming ever more civilized
By Michael Shermer Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined By Steven Pinker
Dubya and Me
Over the course of a quarter-century, a journalist witnessed the transformation of George W. Bush
By Walt Harrington Thursday, August 25, 2011
A Chesterton With No Flab
A new anthology often obscures the writer’s best work
By Garry Wills Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Everyman Chesterton By G. K. Chesterton
LBJ’s Wild Ride
Hanging on for dear life during the 1960 campaign
By Ernest B. Furgurson Thursday, August 25, 2011
Secret Sharers
In an age of leaks, forgeries, and Internet hoaxes, archivists must guard our information while keeping hackers at bay
By Elena S. Danielson Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Worst of Times
A Soviet city barely survives
By Gary Saul Morson Thursday, August 25, 2011
Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941–1944 By Anna Reid
John Brown’s Folly
The mythology of a madman
By Brenda Wineapple Thursday, August 25, 2011
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War By Tony Horwitz
The Psychologist
Vladimir Nabokov’s understanding of human nature anticipated the advances in psychology since his day
By Brian Boyd Thursday, August 25, 2011
Power Crazy
Do lunatics make better leaders?
By George Vaillant Thursday, August 25, 2011
A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness By Nassir Ghaemi
Scar Tissue
When I was stabbed 17 years ago in a New Haven coffee shop, the wounds did not only come from the knife
By Emily Bernard Thursday, August 25, 2011
Paradise
A fledgling romance in the Washington mountains, and another, doomed love affair that cannot be forgotten
By David Guterson Thursday, August 25, 2011
A Mother’s Secret
The images in a treasured photo album preserve an idealized past, while leaving out the painful story of a family torn apart by the Holocaust
By Werner Gundersheimer Thursday, August 25, 2011
Beginners
To make it in the music business requires more than a bit of luck: it might mean choosing between family and oneself