The Imbalance of Power

How the Manhattan Project gave birth to the imperial presidency

Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State By Garry Wills

The Lovable Leviathan

Whales hold a special place in our imagination, but their situation is dire

The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea By Philip Hoare

A Long, Cold Road to Paris

The 2,000-mile, 40-day journey of future first lady Louisa Catherine Adams

Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon By Michael O’Brien

The Debacle Before the Disaster

At Dien Bien Phu, the French got a lesson the U.S. would take two decades to learn

Valley of Death: The Tragedy of Dien Bien Phu That Led America into the Vietnam War By Ted Morgan

In the Shadow of Genocide

Impressions of a Turkish town that was once in Armenia

Rebel Land: Unravelling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town By Christopher de Bellaigue

Science Doubters

When healthy skepticism turns into unhealthy antagonism

Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms The Planet, and Threatens Our Lives By Michael Spector

Laissez-Faire Run Amok

The extremist, and enduring, philosophy of Ayn Rand

Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right By Jennifer Burns

Riffs and Raptures

Zadie Smith’s essays offer crisp prose and hard-won insights

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays By Zadie Smith

Wrestling the Moose

Jefferson debunked a French theory of natural history, launching American exceptionalism

Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose: Natural History in Early America By Lee Alan Dugatkin

The Tales Buildings Tell

Architects can overwhelm their creations; time can make a hash of great visions

The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen Stories By Edward Hollis

Chief Misunderstanding

A speculative, sputtering study of leadership

Our Energetic World

Life is not an accident but an inevitable result of physical laws

The Co-Creation: How Earth Made Life and Life Made EarthBy Olivia Judson

Finding Marty

Zooming in on a storied director

Just a Shot Away: Martin Scorsese’s Life in FilmBy Mark Binelli

Dramatic Paws

On the trail of the elusive big cat of the Himalaya

The Ghost of the Mountains: Unraveling the Secrets of the Snow LeopardBy Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi

Shooting for the Camera

A portrait of the 20th century’s most infamous assassin

Translating the Past

Modern wit meets age-old wisdom

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient LiteratureBy Emily Wilson

Sound Barrier

How Marian Anderson made and managed history

Voice of a Century: The Life and Artistry of Marian AndersonBy Anthony Tommasini

Unfriendly Exchange

The tale of a nuclear war that almost was

The Six Minute War: Reagan, Russia, and the Race to Automate ArmageddonBy Michael Dobbs

Knot in my Back Yard

Not all non-native plants and animals need to be eradicated

Undesirable: Invasive Species, Humans, and Where We All BelongBy Amy Crawford

Hidden Truths

A new portrait of one of the 20th century’s most controversial philosophers

Hannah Arendt: A Life of the MindBy Thomas Meyer (tr. Shelley Frisch)

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