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
Blowdown
When a tornado tears through a beloved landscape, is it possible to just let nature heal itself?
By Tamara Dean Wednesday, September 1, 2010
We’ll Always Have McSorley’s
How Joseph Mitchell’s wonderful saloon became a sacred site for a certain literary pilgrim
By Robert Day Wednesday, September 1, 2010
What the Earth Knows
Understanding the concept of geologic time and some basic science can give a new perspective on climate change and the energy future
By Robert B. Laughlin Tuesday, June 1, 2010
All Style, No Substance
What’s wrong with the State Department’s public diplomacy effort
By Amitai Etzioni Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Too Bad Not to Fail
Just what are derivatives, and how much more damage can they do?
By William J. Quirk Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Voices of a Nation
In the 19th century, American writers struggled to discover who they were and who we are
By Brenda Wineapple Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Hive of Nerves
To be alive spiritually is to feel the ultimate anxiety of existence within the trivial anxieties of everyday life
By Christian Wiman Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Bearable Lightness of Being
If you live long enough and contentedly enough in exile, your feelings of estrangement can evolve into a sense of living two lives at once
By Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Solitude and Leadership
If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts
By William Deresiewicz Monday, March 1, 2010
Reading in a Digital Age
Notes on why the novel and the Internet are opposites, and why the latter both undermines the former and makes it more necessary
By Sven Birkerts Monday, March 1, 2010
