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
Socrates' Mistake
The philosopher’s view of knowledge—forever demanding explanations, justifications, definitions, and criteria—is fantasy, and a dangerous fantasy
By George Watson Tuesday, March 1, 2005
A Standard Oil Childhood
Oil refeneries, sand dunes, and other objects of beauty and affection
By Thomas H. Rogers Tuesday, March 1, 2005
The Big Roundup
John Lomax roamed the West, collecting classic songs from the cowboy era
By Ted Gioia Tuesday, March 1, 2005
The Glue Is Gone
The things that held us together as individuals and as a people are being lost. Can we find them again?
By Edward Hoagland Wednesday, December 1, 2004
So Help Me God
What all fifty-four inaugural addresses, taken as one long book, tell us about American history
By Ted Widmer Wednesday, December 1, 2004
What We Got Wrong
How Arabs look at the self, their society, and their political institutions
By Lawrence Rosen Wednesday, December 1, 2004
The Coming of the French
My life as an English professor
By Phyllis Rose Wednesday, December 1, 2004
The Software Wars
Why you can’t understand your computer
By Paul De Palma Wednesday, December 1, 2004
The Crooner and the Physicist
Jacques Brel and The New Yorker profile that never reached critical mass
By Jeremy Bernstein Wednesday, December 1, 2004
