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
The Color of Dust
Sometimes even a team of radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons can be mystified by the strange workings of the human brain
By Patrick Tripp Thursday, August 10, 2023
The Lives of Bryan
My brother often eluded death, but the many trials that he endured could not prepare us for that awful moment when he finally left us
By Jennifer Sinor Thursday, August 3, 2023
Epithalamium
“I got a collar for the boy, a nice leather number with steel studs that made him look a touch mean and inspired me to get myself a steel-studded camera harness, and off we’d walk, miles a day between jobs.”
By Bill Roorbach Thursday, July 27, 2023
Freud Airlines
Now boarding, all passengers, Flight 1900 to Vienna
By Judith D. Schwartz and Tony Eprile Thursday, July 13, 2023
Projections of Life
Memories of a Midwestern childhood and the stories only pictures can tell
By David Owen Thursday, July 6, 2023
Family Tatters
A social experiment gone wrong
By Jon Zobenica Monday, June 19, 2023
The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Communeby Alexander Stille
The Whole World in His Hands
What a digital restoration of the most expensive painting ever sold tells us about beauty, authenticity, and the fragility of existence
By David Stromberg Thursday, June 15, 2023
Last Dance
At a World War II internment camp, George Igawa entertained thousands of incarcerated Japanese Americans—while teaching a band of novices how to swing
By Julian Saporiti Thursday, June 8, 2023
A Kingdom of Little Animals
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of microorganisms made possible the revolutionary advances in biology and medicine that continue to inform our Covid age
By Laura J. Snyder Thursday, June 1, 2023
