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
To Catch a Sunset
Reflections on allergies, anxieties, and the limits of familial love
By Sandra Beasley Thursday, July 11, 2024
Rhyme, Not Repetition
All that’s past isn’t necessarily present
By Jon Zobenica Monday, July 8, 2024
When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990sby John Ganz
The Next New Thing
In architecture, the gulf between the traditional and the modern seems wider than ever before
By Witold Rybczynski Thursday, July 4, 2024
Just When You Thought It Wasn’t Safe …
How Wilbert Longfellow turned America into a nation of swimmers
By Vicki Valosik Monday, June 24, 2024
Imperfecta
Her brother’s disease leads a writer to challenge how we conceive of human abnormality in the emerging era of gene editing
By Pamela Haag Thursday, June 20, 2024
Survival Situation
The debate over evolution and its discoverer
By Anne Matthews Monday, June 10, 2024
Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwinby Howard Markel
The Rescuer
In search of the Underground Railroad’s legendary conductor
By Danielle Amir Jackson Monday, June 3, 2024
Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free Peopleby Tiya Miles
A Forgotten Turner Classic
Who was George Eyser, the one-legged German-American gymnast who astounded at the Olympic Games?
By Joshua Prager Monday, June 3, 2024
Facing the Facts
An antiquated take on antiquity
By Sarah Ruden Monday, June 3, 2024
The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient Worldby Daisy Dunn
