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
Present Tense
Even in this interminable drugstore line, my daughter’s last summer before college is slipping by far too quickly
By Laura Bernstein-Machlay Tuesday, September 4, 2018
My Family’s Siberian Exile
A writer pieces together the forgotten history of life in Stalin’s special settlements
By Megan Buskey Tuesday, September 4, 2018
The End of Literature
Even if writing is reduced to tweeted epigrams to keep readers reading, won’t writers still tell stories?
By Robert Coover Tuesday, September 4, 2018
In the Labyrinth of #MeToo
Addressing sexual aggression and power in contemporary society also means questioning what the feminist movement has really been about
By Sandra M. Gilbert Monday, June 4, 2018
Working for Bobby
Fifty years ago, I campaigned for RFK for president, and was nearby when the dream died with him
By Steven L. Isenberg Monday, June 4, 2018
The End of Liberalism
What happens when public opinion is diminished and popular sentiment is aroused
By John Lukacs Monday, June 4, 2018
Diamonds
The stones, shimmering and precious, connect a writer to her generous, enigmatic mother
By Sheila Kohler Monday, June 4, 2018
In Search of Lost Travels
How remembrances from far away steel the soul
By Jeffrey Tayler Monday, June 4, 2018
Home, Home On the Road
His father’s long-time obsession with recreational vehicles leads a writer to hit the highway
By David Owen Monday, June 4, 2018
A Vacuum at the Center
How a demagogue resembles a typhoon, and why it matters to the future of the republic
By W. Robert Connor Monday, March 5, 2018
