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
Physics for the Feeble-Minded
A crash course on our boundlessly bizarre universe
By Jethro K. Lieberman Monday, August 9, 2021
Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolutionby Carlo Rovelli
Naples: Living in Limbo
People in Cicciano were accustomed to gathering in the town square, strolling the streets, visiting one another for a cup of coffee.
By Giusi De Luca Monday, June 28, 2021
The Inheritance of Nations
To what extent does a work of art belong to the people of the world?
By Hannah Barbosa Cesnik Monday, June 14, 2021
Fashion Forward
Five questions about the future of what we wear
By Aditi Mayer Thursday, June 10, 2021
Washing Feet in Dolpo
On a medical mission at the top of the world, finding a healing dose of cheerful stoicism
By William deBuys Monday, June 7, 2021
Raising Mank
The Academy Award–winning film about the making of Citizen Kane is really a window into the tumultuous, brutal side of Hollywood’s golden age
By Jerome Charyn Saturday, June 5, 2021
E Pluribus Unum?
Our national identity has always been hotly contested
By Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen Thursday, June 3, 2021
American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783–1850Alan Taylor
