Eric Rohmer and Me
What a classic film from the French new wave taught me about the illusions of my youth
By André Aciman Friday, December 6, 2013
Leaks and Consequences
Why treating leakers as spies puts journalists at legal risk
By Lincoln Caplan Thursday, September 5, 2013
Federal Student-Loan Sharks
Why is the government gouging our college kids? The new law on loan rates just makes things worse
By William J. Quirk Thursday, September 5, 2013
To Live Is an Act of Courage
The crisis of suicide among our soldiers and veterans must end. Here’s how we can stop it
By Jennifer Michael Hecht Thursday, September 5, 2013
Is There a Word for That?
We have long invented language to fill gaps in our vocabulary, but not all coinages are created equal
By Ralph Keyes Thursday, September 5, 2013
Lost and Found
An ancestral home holds the relics of a family’s past—and the promise of its future
By Edward McPherson Thursday, September 5, 2013
The Number One Funeral Home
The memorial service for my father, the doctor who attended to Chiang Kai-shek, was no ordinary affair
By Pauline Yu Thursday, September 5, 2013
Laughter and the Brain
Can humor help us better understand the most complex and enigmatic organ in the human body?
By Richard Restak Monday, June 10, 2013
Ladies Last
After the Civil War, both women and black men struggled to win the vote. Why the men succeeded
By Brenda Wineapple Monday, June 10, 2013
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
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
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
In the Mushroom
True foraging isn’t the domain of the weekend warrior; it’s serious, serious business
By Michael Autrey Monday, December 2, 2024
The Brahmin and His Imaginary Friend
How a classic paean to the honest virtues of a Maine fisherman obscured several ugly truths
By Janna Malamud Smith Monday, December 2, 2024
Granaries of Language
Dictionaries are far more than alphabetized collections of words
By Ilan Stavans Monday, December 2, 2024
Reborn in the City of Light
At a time when Paris was an incubator of modernism, a group of bold American women arrived to make art out of their lives
By Rosanna Warren Thursday, October 24, 2024
Thoreau’s Pencils
How might a newly discovered
connection to slavery change
our understanding of an abolitionist
hero and his writing?