Reversal of Fortune
Sorting out contradictions in the work of Louis Sullivan, father of the skyscraper and innovator of beautiful ornament
By James Trilling Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Witch Temple of Mehandipur
To an Indian town the possessed come in droves, their families desperate to be rid of the evil that curses them
By Edward Hower Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Identity Crisis
Who was the real Tolstoy?
By Marshall Poe Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tolstoy: A Russian Life By Rosamund Bartlett
Mrs. Simmons, of Australia, Would Like You to Know
An exchange in verse
By Brian Doyle and Pico Iyer Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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
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
Verde
Learning a foreign language isn’t just about improving cognitive function—it can teach us to sense the world anew
By Jesse Lee Kercheval Thursday, December 12, 2024
Aging Out
Many of us do not go gentle into that good night
By Anne Matthews Thursday, December 5, 2024
Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Ageby James Chappel
Under a Spell Everlasting
Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain, published a century ago, tells of a world unable to free itself from the cataclysm of war
By Samantha Rose Hill Monday, December 2, 2024
Divided Providence
Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War
By Robert Wilson Monday, December 2, 2024
Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln’s Unionby Richard Carwardine
The Fair Fields 
Only rarely did the outside world intrude on an idyllic Connecticut childhood, but in the tumultuous 1960s, that intrusion included an encounter with evil
By Rosanna Warren Monday, December 2, 2024
Ideology as Anatomy
How shifting ideas about women’s bodies have affected their lives
By Sierra Bellows Monday, December 2, 2024
Immaculate Forms: A History of the Female Body in Four Partsby Helen King
