Swimming the River of Song
How a young scholar demystified the ancient oral tradition
By A. E. Stallings Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Hearing Homer’s Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry by Robert Kanigel
Surviving the Anthropocene
Can we reverse-engineer our way out of catastrophe?
By Stephen J. Pyne Monday, April 12, 2021
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
TV’s Founding Mothers
The women who turned the small screen into a cultural phenomenon
By Jayne Ross Monday, April 5, 2021
When Women Invented Television: The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been
The celebrated depiction of a miracle is, by its very survival, a miracle in itself
By Meryle Secrest Thursday, March 18, 2021
Plunder: Napoleon’s Theft of Veronese’s Feast by Cynthia Saltzman
Artist of Excess
The man who painted his century’s nightmare
By Sierra Bellows Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Francis Bacon: Revelations by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan
Order Amid Chaos
A poet-scientist considers the imponderables of existence
By Sam Kean Monday, February 15, 2021
Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman
Cultural or Criminal?
How to explain Texas’s hunger for executions
By Lincoln Caplan Monday, February 8, 2021
Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty by Maurice Chammah
Family Secrets
A writer’s personal quest to expose a mass murderer who escaped punishment
By Charles Trueheart Monday, February 1, 2021
The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands
Outbreaks and Outcomes
Plagues thrive on more than just pathogens
By Graeme Wood Monday, December 21, 2020
Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History by Paul Farmer
Figuring Out Our Fourth Estate
Can democracy survive in the absence of agreed-upon facts?
By Scott Stossel Thursday, December 10, 2020
An Aristocracy of Critics: Luce, Hutchins, Niebuhr, and the Committee That Redefined Freedom of the Press by Stephen Bates
Words, Words, Words
How artists turned the canon against congressional inquisitors
By Brooke Kroeger Thursday, April 2, 2026
A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scareby Marjorie Garber
Lede-ing Ladies
How female foreign correspondents transformed journalism
By Anne Matthews Monday, March 16, 2026
Starry and Restless: Three Women Who Changed Work, Writing, and the WorldBy Julia Cooke
An American Prophet of the Natural World
Celebrating the magical mundane
By John Kaag Thursday, March 5, 2026
The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinaryby Terry Tempest Williams
Who Is Thinking?
The quest to discover the answer to an age-old question
By T. M. Luhrmann Monday, March 2, 2026
A World Appears: A Journey into ConsciousnessBy Michael Pollan
The Great Decipherment
Decoding the story of a lost civilization
By Ilan Stavans Monday, March 2, 2026
The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient MayaBy David Stuart
Think, Again
Reckoning with the elegance of physical laws and the wonders of being alive
By John Kaag Monday, March 2, 2026
TraversalBy Maria Popova
Family Trees
Threats to our woods are threats to us all
By Priscilla Long Monday, March 2, 2026
When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural WorldBy Suzanne Simard
Criminal Complexity
What inherited traits can—and can’t—tell us about violent behavior
By Jill Leovy Monday, March 2, 2026
Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of ForgivenessBy Kathryn Paige Harden
The Minotaur’s Muses
The romantic cruelty of a brilliant artist
By Anne Matthews Friday, February 27, 2026
Hidden Portraits: Six Women Who Shaped Picasso's Lifeby Sue Roe
Hold the Salt
Reconsidering an ancient city’s bad reputation
By Charles G. Salas Friday, January 23, 2026
Carthage: A New Historyby Eve MacDonald
