Literary Life on the Rocks
A writer’s own ordeal highlights the banal sameness of addiction
By Domenica Ruta Monday, March 5, 2018
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison
A Planet in Peril
Can humanity engineer its way out of trouble?
By David Gessner Monday, March 5, 2018
The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann
A Window on Europe
How a tsar turned a fetid bog into an imperial capital
By Gary Saul Morson Monday, March 5, 2018
St. Petersburg: Madness, Murder, and Art on the Banks of the Neva by Jonathan Miles
A Fallen Angel of Mercy
Did her good works expiate the sins of her dark past?
By Michela Wrong Monday, March 5, 2018
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement by John Heminway
Foes of Judgment
Numbers don’t always reveal the true nature of things
By Gary Saul Morson Wednesday, February 28, 2018
The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller
An Even Greater Beyond
Will technology bring us eternal life?
By Sam Kean Thursday, February 22, 2018
Heavens on Earth by Michael Shermer
Why We Need Art
Can evolutionary biology explain the human impulse to create?
By Natalie Angier Monday, December 4, 2017
The Origins of Creativity by Edward O. Wilson
The Wanderer
How a Victorian novelist’s life and times inform our own
By Michela Wrong Monday, December 4, 2017
The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World by Maya Jasanoff
Bungle in the Jungle
A new biography considers what might have been in Indochina
By Charles Trueheart Monday, December 4, 2017
The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam by Max Boot
The Colonial Melting Pot
Six very different people in a war of liberation
By T. H. Breen Monday, December 4, 2017
Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom by Russell Shorto
Who Would I Be Off My Meds
Can weaning oneself off pharmaceuticals ease the cycle of perpetual suffering?
By Scott Stossel Thursday, March 6, 2025
Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistanceby Laura Delano
Who’s to Say?
A bewildering take from a noted scholar of Christianity
By Sarah Ruden Monday, March 3, 2025
Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesusby Elaine Pagels
Chapters and Verse
Looking for the poet between the lines
By Jay Parini Monday, March 3, 2025
Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetryby Adam Plunkett
Once More, Without Feeling
Can a memoir be effective when it lacks any warmth?
By Casey Schwartz Monday, March 3, 2025
Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritanceby Joe Dunthorne
Electrons That Bind
The molecule at the center of everything
By Priscilla Long Monday, March 3, 2025
Carbon: The Book of Lifeby Paul Hawken
Food for Thought
A pragmatic approach to one of humanity’s gravest threats
By Anne Matthews Monday, March 3, 2025
How to Feed the World: The History and Future of Foodby Vaclav Smil
Splitting Our Sides
A new biography of a comedy pioneer
By Stephen Macone Monday, March 3, 2025
Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Liveby Susan Morrison
In the Lions’ Studio
A new dual biography turns the lens on the towering architects of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
By Noah Isenberg Thursday, February 13, 2025
Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equationby Kenneth Turan
Divided Providence
Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War