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 History by 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 Mississippi by Wright Thompson
Insisting on the Positive
A popular historian’s philosophical musings
By Carlin Romano Tuesday, September 3, 2024
On Freedom by 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 Memoir by André Aciman
Mortal Coils
We aren’t alone in facing the inevitable
By Sy Montgomery Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death by 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 Stevenson by Camille Peri
Schmaltz of Significance
How the first talkie treated the myth of the melting pot
By Steven G. Kellman Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Only in America: Al Jolson and The Jazz Singer by Richard Bernstein
Magical Mind
Albert Einstein’s life
By Stephen Petranek Friday, June 1, 2007
EINSTEIN: His Life and Universe By Walter Isaacson
Dismantling the Dream
By Sandra Beasley Friday, June 1, 2007
The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America By Daniel Brook, Henry Holt
Happy Talk
What did we know about joy, and when did we know it?
By Wayne Curtis Thursday, March 1, 2007
The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is WrongBy Jennifer Michael Hecht /Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy By Barbara Ehrenreich
The Impulse to Exclude
Ralph Ellison wrote one great novel and then lived a life that is hard to admire
By Phyllis Rose Thursday, March 1, 2007
Hearsay
From the divinely inspired to the pathological, a history of auditory hallucination
By Richard Restak Thursday, March 1, 2007
Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination By Daniel B. Smith
An Epic in Flux
Gilgamesh, the world’s first great literary work, is still being pieced together
By Sudip Bose Thursday, March 1, 2007
The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh By David Damrosch
Design Problem
Does the internal physiology of animals imply a harmony of structure and function?
By Mary Beth Saffo Thursday, March 1, 2007
The Tinkerer’s Accomplice: How Design Emerges from Life Itself By J. Scott Turner
The Historical Present
Robert Fagle’s bold solutions to the problem of Virgil
By A. E. Stallings Friday, December 1, 2006
The Aeneid By Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
Pleasure out of Desperation
Thomas Eakins, yearning for the ideal in a materialistic age
By Brenda Wineapple Friday, December 1, 2006
Portrait: The Life of Thomas Eakins By William S. McFeely
Organized Violence
In the last century, where did warfare end and genocide begin?
By Charles Trueheart Friday, December 1, 2006
The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West By Niall Ferguson
