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
Encounters Of f the Page
After conducting 250 author interviews over four decades, I’m still engaged but a lot less awestruck
By Wendy Smith Monday, December 2, 2019
Pursuing the White Whale
A briny exploration of Melville’s greatest work
By William Howarth Monday, December 2, 2019
Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dickby Richard J. King
Alternate Universes
Quentin Tarantino has, over the course of his career, reimagined the art of filmmaking
By Jerome Charyn Monday, December 2, 2019
New World Prophecy
Dvořák once predicted that American classical music would be rooted in the black vernacular. Why, then, has the field remained so white?
By Joseph Horowitz Friday, September 13, 2019
Head Cases
Field notes on a beautiful friendship
By T. M. Luhrmann Tuesday, September 3, 2019
And How Are You, Dr. Sacks? A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks by Lawrence Weschler
Moral Courage and the Civil War
Monuments ask us to look at the past, but how they do it exposes crucial aspects of the present and has an inescapable effect on the future
By Elizabeth D. Samet Tuesday, September 3, 2019
