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
Wonder Bread
Come with us to a place called Brooklyn, where the stories are half-baked and their endings bland and soft
By Melvin Jules Bukiet Saturday, September 1, 2007
Unto Caesar
Religious groups that have allied themselves with politicians, and vice versa, have ignored at their peril the lessons of Roger Williams and U.S. history
By Ethan Fishman Saturday, September 1, 2007
The Trojan War
Now even some environmentalists are supporting the use of nuclear power to generate electricity. One man’s story suggests the industry can’t be trusted
By William Nichols Saturday, September 1, 2007
Poetry Stand
How a precocious group of high school poets learned to provide verse on demand
By Diana Goetsch Saturday, September 1, 2007
Lady of the Lake
Writer Brenda Ueland and the story she never shared
By Alice Kaplan Saturday, September 1, 2007
Apologies All Around
Today’s tendency to make amends for the crimes of history raises the question: where do we stop?
By Gorman Beauchamp Saturday, September 1, 2007
Findings: Amateurism
From the Spring 1976 issue of The Scholar
By William Haley Saturday, September 1, 2007
