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
Making Sparks Fly
How occupational education can lead to a love of learning for its own sake
By Mike Rose Friday, June 3, 2011
In the Orbit of Copernicus
A discovery of the great astronomer’s bones, and their reburial in Poland
By Owen Gingerich Friday, June 3, 2011
Plunging to Earth
Once the sport of daredevils, skydiving now offers it existential thrills to grandmothers, pudgy geeks, and even the occasional college professor
By Robert Zaretsky Friday, June 3, 2011
Plucked from the Grave
The first female missionary to cross the Continental Divide came to a gruesome end partly caused by her own zeal. What can we learn from her?
By Debra Gwartney Friday, June 3, 2011
Civil Warfare in the Streets
After Fort Sumter, German immigrants in St. Louis flocked to the Union cause and in bloody confrontations overthrew the local secessionists
By Adam Goodheart Wednesday, March 2, 2011
How Longfellow Woke the Dead
When first published 150 years ago, his famous poem about Paul Revere was read as a bold statement of his opposition to slavery
By Jill Lepore Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Interview with a Neandertal
What I always wanted to ask our distant cousins about love and death and sorrow and dinner
By Priscilla Long Wednesday, March 2, 2011
‘I Tried to Stop the Bloody Thing’
In World War I, nearly as many British men refused the draft—20,000—as were killed on the Somme’s first day. Why were those who fought for peace forgotten?
By Adam Hochschild Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The View from 90
Even when those in my generation have reached a state of serenity, wisdom, and relative comfort, what we face can hardly be called the golden years
By Doris Grumbach Wednesday, March 2, 2011
