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?
By Augustine Sedgewick Thursday, October 17, 2024
Why So Many Kids Struggle to Learn
Teachers continue to be trained in ways that ignore the findings of cognitive science
By Natalie Wexler Tuesday, December 14, 2021
The Art of Losing
The end of the war in Afghanistan shows the danger of our commitment to perpetual optimism
By Elizabeth D. Samet Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The Bird That Sang I Am
Poems about the place where we belong
By Christian Wiman Thursday, November 25, 2021
Dark White
The caste status of Arabs in the United States and Germany
By Rosalie Metro Thursday, November 4, 2021
A Prophet and a President
Why Black biography matters
By David Levering Lewis Thursday, October 21, 2021
Whatever Happened to Frankie King?
A tale of Brooklyn, basketball, brothers, and madness
By Jay Neugeboren Thursday, September 30, 2021
On Our Knees
What the history of a gesture can tell us about Black creative power
By Farah Peterson Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Of Plagues and Prejudice
Whether cholera or Covid-19, epidemic disease can reveal what is hidden—in ourselves and our societies
By Perri Klass Saturday, August 14, 2021
Black Turtlenecks, Hoop Earrings
Unruly girl-poets in the ’50s
By Sandra M. Gilbert Thursday, August 12, 2021
