Island Royalty
A new biography of a Caribbean revolutionary
By Madison Smartt Bell Monday, January 13, 2025
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut
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
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
