Mightier Than the Sword
A celebrated cartoonist looks back on his singular life and career
By Jerome Charyn Monday, December 13, 2021
Profusely Illustrated: A Memoir by Edward Sorel
A World Weird and Wondrous
A classical music star offers a peek behind the curtain
By Wynne Delacoma Monday, December 6, 2021
The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera by Matthew Aucoin
Sex and Secrets
Rare is the Hitchcock film that celebrates desire without disaster
By Lisa Zeidner Saturday, December 4, 2021
If You Can’t See the Stage, Turn to the Page
With theaters shut during the pandemic, reading plays has shed surprising light on works both familiar and strange
By Wendy Smith Thursday, December 2, 2021
Bartleby the Scrivener
If you’re dead or fictional, we’re the dating service for you!
By Pamela Petro Wednesday, December 1, 2021
On Kindness
Almost everybody wants to be thought of as kind, if only as a strategy
By Edward Hoagland Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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