Two Dutch Visionaries

How the optical revolution revealed worlds large and small

Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing By Laura J. Snyder

“You Cannot Refine It”

From victory to annihilation, the evolving nature of combat

Sherman’s Ghosts: Soldiers, Civilians, and the American Way of War By Matthew Carr

Riveting

In Search of Mister Gustave

Who is the inspiration for the Grand Budapest’s concierge?

Confessing and Confiding

Knowing the difference between the two can elevate an essay from therapy to art

Of Two Minds

Remembrances

River Song

Failure to Heal

Today’s medical industry thrives on diagnosing and curing, but it doesn’t reach the soul

Autism and Genetics

The Embattled First Amendment

The Supreme Court is interpreting free speech in new ways that threaten our democracy

Above and Beyond

Doomed to Re-Tweet It

Hearts With One Purpose

A revealing group portrait of Ireland’s motley crew of rebels

Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890–1923 By R. F. Foster

A Terrible Loss

Lincoln’s assassination 150 years ago turned plans for postwar reconciliation to a frenzy of violence

A Taste for Higher Math

The numbers that count

How to Bake π: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics By Eugenia Cheng

Whither American Culture?

Kill the Creature

In search of snakes—and the balm of charity and love in a world of infinitely lonely space

Cooking Up Trouble in the Heartland

Great Escape

On Normandy’s coast a century ago, Claude Debussy fled the war and composed his final piano masterpiece

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