A Whale of a Story
The parallel lives of Moby-Dick’s creator and the historian who rescued him from obscurity
By Steven G. Kellman Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times by Aaron Sachs
California Scheming
Has one of the 20th century’s greatest unsolved crimes finally been cracked?
By Susan Berfield Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Who Killed Jane Stanford? A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits, and the Birth of a University by Richard White
Subatomic Inspiration
The enigmatic thinker behind the Large Hadron Collider
By Sam Kean Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass by Frank Close
From Counterculture to Culture
How a teenage rebel rose to the summit of British literary life
By N. S. Thompson Monday, May 23, 2022
A Name Not Writ in Water
Revisiting an immortal 19th-century English poet
By A. E. Stallings Monday, April 25, 2022
Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph by Lucasta Miller
Arctic Fantasies
The region has long been an object of dreams, desire, and misunderstanding
By Neil Shea Monday, April 11, 2022
Extreme North: A Cultural History by Bernd Brunne
Gene Therapy
A writer’s search for herself in the branches of her family tree
By Nancy Isenberg Monday, March 28, 2022
Making the List
Finding the right page required centuries of experiment
By Charles Trueheart Monday, March 21, 2022
Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan
From Cold War to Y2K
Looking back on a decade that was often dumb but never dull
By Malcolm Jones Monday, March 14, 2022
The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman
Found in Translation
An Iranian emigrant finds solace in Western literature
By Steven G. Kellman Monday, March 7, 2022
Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times by Azar Nafisi
Heart of Semi-Darkness
A writer’s delectable quest for rare flavors
By Tim Carman Thursday, November 7, 2024
Masters of Horror and Magic
The German folklorists who helped build a nation
By Anne Matthews Friday, November 1, 2024
For Want of Touch
The astonishing breadth of our passions
By Diana Goetsch Thursday, September 26, 2024
Imperiled Planet
The ecological havoc we’ve wrought
By Priscilla Long Tuesday, September 3, 2024
The Burning Earth: A Historyby Sunil Amrith
Ground Truth
A story of dirt, dollars, and death
By Steve Yarbrough Tuesday, September 3, 2024
The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippiby Wright Thompson
Insisting on the Positive
A popular historian’s philosophical musings
By Carlin Romano Tuesday, September 3, 2024
On Freedomby Timothy Snyder
A Stranger in the Seven Hills
A refugee’s experience in the Eternal City
By Ingrid D. Rowland Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Roman Year: A Memoirby André Aciman
Mortal Coils
We aren’t alone in facing the inevitable
By Sy Montgomery Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Deathby Susana Monsó
Silent Partner
The union that may have made possible a writer’s late flourishing
By Robert Zaretsky Tuesday, September 3, 2024
A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevensonby Camille Peri
Schmaltz of Significance
How the first talkie treated the myth of the melting pot