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
Through Fire and Flood
Faulkner’s best fiction emerged from his willingness to face crises
By Jay Parini Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner By Philip Weinstein
A Day in the Life
Reading Joyce’s Ulysses as a guide to urban living
By Sudip Bose Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Life in Joyce’s Masterpiece By Declan Kiberd
Art in the Time of War
A prescient and courageous few safeguarded Italy’s patrimony
By Susannah Rutherglen Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Venus Fixers: The Remarkable Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II By Ilaria Dagnini Brey, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Common Good
The case for a standardized curriculum for all American children
By Richard D. Kahlenberg Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Making of Americans: Democracy and Our Schools By E.D. Hirsch Jr.
Film Release
A woman’s burdened life and transcendent photographs
By Shirley Streshinsky Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits By Linda Gordon
Relativity and All That
Big Science bears down on Einstein’s equation
By Apurva Narechania Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Why Does E=mc2? (And Why Should We Care?) By Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
Watchers of the Skies
Heroes of British science, and the Romantic poets they inspired
By Robert Wilson Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science By Richard Holmes
Barbarian Virtues
When Americans first yearned to transform themselves and save the world
By Patricia O’Toole Monday, June 1, 2009
Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920 By Jackson Lears
Jungle Bungle
As a rubber baron, Henry Ford was no Firestone
By Wayne Curtis Monday, June 1, 2009
Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City By Greg Grandin
Gross Anatomy
A physician’s inside stories about the human body










