Bending Toward Justice
Rejecting the “race riot” myth means facing the ugly truth
By Sally Greene Thursday, July 16, 2026
They Stole a City: Wilmington’s White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live With Its Legacy by Lauren Collins
Verse From the Abyss
How a Jewish poet rebuilt his mother tongue in the wake of the Holocaust
By Piotr Florczyk Thursday, July 9, 2026
Paul Celan: A Life by Anna Arno, translated by Soren Gauger
Where Are We?
Finding our bearings has never been so risky
By Peter Turchi Monday, June 29, 2026
Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World By Katherine Dunn
Blood—and Beauty—at the Root
Fifty years ago, Alex Haley’s landmark novel changed the way many Americans thought about race
By Brandon Tensley Monday, June 15, 2026
Remembering Roots: How an American Classic Transformed the World by Lucas L. Johnson II
In Defense of Difficult Reading
The tomes of the past cultivate the lost art of sustained attention
By Todd Shy Friday, June 5, 2026
What’s So Great About the Great Books?: Why You Should Read Classic Literature (Even Though It Might Destroy You) Naomi Kanakia
Inside Man
A young reporter’s devastating exposé of the amoral elite
By Anne Matthews Monday, June 1, 2026
How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University By Theo Baker
Things Fall Apart
A meditation on entropy, obsolescence, and death
By Steven G. Kellman Monday, June 1, 2026
How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information By Thomas S. Mullaney
Into the Wilds
The tangled terrain of untrammeled lands
By Miranda Weiss Monday, June 1, 2026
The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness By Cal Flyn
The Painter Time Forgot
An overdue reckoning of an artist’s volcanic genius
By Rebecca Bedell Monday, June 1, 2026
Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World By Victoria Johnson
Canonical Contempt
Even in the 18th century, Edward Gibbon’s misogyny set him apart
By Michael O'Donnell Monday, June 1, 2026
The Conversions of Edward Gibbon: A Modern Biography By Martha Saxton
Robocops and Robbers
Criminal justice in the age of digital spying and surveillance
By Jill Leovy Monday, March 6, 2017
Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission by Barry Friedman
One Nation Under God
The contentious role of Christianity in politics
By Dennis Covington Monday, March 6, 2017
The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances FitzGerald; Simon &
“Time to Plant Tears”
An intimate biography of one of the 20th century’s great poets
By Dana Gioia Monday, March 6, 2017
Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast by Megan Marshall
Taking Old Abe to Task
A historian’s uncommonly grim view of the Great Emancipator
By David S. Reynolds Monday, March 6, 2017
Six Encounters with Lincoln: A President Confronts Democracy and Its Demons by Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Travels in Literary Time
A writer’s excursions beyond mere archives
By Jay Parini Monday, March 6, 2017
This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic BiographerRichard Holmes
Selective Memory
Ideas do not always catch on right away
By Christoph Irmscher Monday, December 5, 2016
The Book That Changed America: How Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation By Randall Fuller
Controlled Experiments
The Soviet Union’s ideological and inefficient view of science
By Aileen M. Kelly Monday, December 5, 2016
Stalin and the Scientists: A History of Triumph and Tragedy, 1905–1953 By Simon Ings
Too Much Poetic License
An attempt to identify the object of the Bard’s affections
By Andrew Motion Monday, December 5, 2016
Naming Thy Name: Cross Talk in Shakespeare’s Sonnets By Elaine Scarry
Sisters of the Night Sky
The pioneering female scientists who first charted the universe
By Sam Kean Monday, December 5, 2016
The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars By Dava Sobel
Feeling No Pain
A philosopher argues we should not be misled by our hearts



















