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 Age by 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 Union by 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 Parts by Helen King
Thought Experimenters
Making sense of a broken world
By Robert Zaretsky Monday, November 27, 2023
The Visionaries: Arendt, Beauvoir, Rand, Weil, and the Power of Philosophy in Dark Timesby Wolfram Eilenberger
The Late Bloomer
Reconstructing a private poet’s life
By N. S. Thompson Thursday, November 23, 2023
Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampittby Willard Spiegelman
Naturalists Unknown
Lives marked by discovery and erasure
By Perri Klass Thursday, November 16, 2023
Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Scienceby Catherine McNeur
Alphabet of Despair
The photographic language of Dorothea Lange conveyed order and beauty in a dusty, impoverished America
By Megan Craig Thursday, November 9, 2023
Down and Out
A woman excised from her eminent husband’s story
By Steven G. Kellman Friday, October 27, 2023
Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Lifeby Anna Funder
A Burning World
Can poetry truly supply the language to express the ineffable sensations of suffering and love?
By Christian Wiman Thursday, October 26, 2023
It’s All Greek to Her
The woman who brought mythology to the masses
By Amanda Kolson Hurley Friday, October 20, 2023
American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton by Victoria Houseman
The Days After
Remembering Samantha Smith, the girl who dared to dream of peace at a time when so many feared a global war
By Wendy Fontaine Thursday, October 19, 2023
Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit
“There was the rabbit lying in the middle of the road, legs limp but twitching before its head sagged and went still.”
By Anne Valente Friday, October 13, 2023
A Clean, Well-Ordered Place
An ode to the grocery store
By Steve Yarbrough Wednesday, October 11, 2023
