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 World at the End of a Line
The grandson of one of American literature’s Lost Generation novelists reflects on his namesake’s love of the sea
By John Dos Passos Coggin Thursday, April 13, 2023
The Pain Principle
What if the animal rights movement abandoned its focus on suffering and appealed to a different set of human emotions?
By Matthew Denton-Edmundson Thursday, April 6, 2023
Phantoms
What it’s like to navigate the world when your senses conjure up phenomena that others can’t perceive
By Caitriona Lally Thursday, March 16, 2023
I’ll Be Seeing You
The search for traces of a beloved writer led to an uncertain pilgrimage—and a friendship that endured over distance and time
By Patricia Hampl Thursday, March 9, 2023
The Goddess Complex
A set of revered stone deities was stolen from a temple in northwestern India; their story can tell us much about our current reckoning with antiquities trafficking
By Elizabeth Kadetsky Thursday, March 2, 2023
Doors of Perception
The often unreliable ways we interpret reality
By Natalie Angier Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Where We Meet the World: The Story of the Sensesby Ashley Ward
Milking the G.O.A.T.
Why are we so obsessed with anointing the very best?
By Eric Wills Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Mortal Music
Franz Schubert, silence, and the final reckoning
By Ian Bostridge Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Culture Shock
The hidden history of reverse colonization
By Ilan Stavans Wednesday, March 1, 2023
On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europeby Caroline Dodds Pennock
Life at the Bottom
It’s not just the rich who victimize the poor
By Nancy Isenberg Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
