Atonality and Beyond
The century when composers and audiences parted company
By Sudip Bose Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century By Alex Ross, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Early End of Consensus
Bitter partisanship began soon after George Washington left the scene
By Jill Ogline Saturday, September 1, 2007
A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign By Edward J. Larson
Unto Caesar
Religious groups that have allied themselves with politicians, and vice versa, have ignored at their peril the lessons of Roger Williams and U.S. history
By Ethan Fishman Saturday, September 1, 2007
Swept Away
When Géricault painted The Raft of the Medusa, he immersed himself in his subject’s horrors
By Anthony Brandt Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Wreck of the Medusa By Jonathan Miles
Nurtural Intelligence
The discoverer of the Flynn effect claims that genes control IQ less than you’d expect
By Richard Restak Saturday, September 1, 2007
What Is Intelligence? Beyond the Flynn Effect By James R. Flynn
Words and Music
Two ways of thinking about what our brains can do
By Jennifer Michael Hecht Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human NatureBy Steven Pinker / Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain By Oliver Sacks
The Trojan War
Now even some environmentalists are supporting the use of nuclear power to generate electricity. One man’s story suggests the industry can’t be trusted
By William Nichols Saturday, September 1, 2007
Poetry Stand
How a precocious group of high school poets learned to provide verse on demand
By Diana Goetsch Saturday, September 1, 2007
Louise Glück’s Italy of the Mind
On a classical stage peopled by workers, wives, and lovers
By Langdon Hammer Saturday, September 1, 2007
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
