Hidden Truths
A new portrait of one of the 20th century’s most controversial philosophers
By Robert Zaretsky Thursday, August 13, 2026
Hannah Arendt: A Life of the Mind By Thomas Meyer (tr. Shelley Frisch)
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
Getting Better All the Time
Although you wouldn’t know it by watching the local news, humankind is becoming ever more civilized
By Michael Shermer Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined By Steven Pinker
A Chesterton With No Flab
A new anthology often obscures the writer’s best work
By Garry Wills Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Everyman Chesterton By G. K. Chesterton
The Worst of Times
A Soviet city barely survives
By Gary Saul Morson Thursday, August 25, 2011
Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941–1944 By Anna Reid
John Brown’s Folly
The mythology of a madman
By Brenda Wineapple Thursday, August 25, 2011
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War By Tony Horwitz
Power Crazy
Do lunatics make better leaders?
By George Vaillant Thursday, August 25, 2011
A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness By Nassir Ghaemi
The Inside Track
How those dim-witted robber barons built the railroads
By Mark Hertsgaard Friday, June 3, 2011
Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America By Richard White
Full Bloom
A critic offers his final thoughts
By Michael Dirda Friday, June 3, 2011
The Anatomy of Influence: Literature as a Way of Life By Harold Bloom
Frozen Assets
A gritty tale of a grim landscape
By Hampton Sides Friday, June 3, 2011
The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle By Sara Wheeler
Deep Trouble
How a natural disaster barreled into a historical one
