Jane Austen and the Making of Desire
On being a Regency fanboy, and America’s weird relationship with sex
By Stephanie Bastek Monday, November 20, 2017
The Three Percent
Literature in translation—including the first fiction ever published in English from Madagascar and Tibet
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, November 10, 2017
Witches Never Die
Burial practices around the world, from mummies to dancing skulls, and the history of magic’s bad girls
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, October 27, 2017
Back in the USSR
A glimpse inside the house that Stalin built, and Italy’s anti-fascist First Family
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, October 13, 2017
Once and Future Food
Imagining a new world of teas and tastes
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 29, 2017
Rhapsodies in Blue
Vulgar tongues, cruel etymologies, and a spot of poetry
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 15, 2017
Scientists and Saints
Women’s roles and rituals under the microscope
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 1, 2017
Lady Pirates and Oceans of Plastic
One very daring journey and the pirate who puts Blackbeard to shame
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, August 11, 2017
What the Nose Knows
Smell detectives, laughing gas, and all the forces we cannot see
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, July 28, 2017
Love Games and First Impressions
How to judge tennis—or a stranger’s face
By Stephanie Bastek Thursday, July 13, 2017
The Snow Maiden
Our final episode of 2018 is a send-off to the solstice
By Stephanie Bastek Monday, December 30, 2024
Ho Ho Horror
Why not make this Christmas a little darker?
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, December 27, 2024
Kinship and Contradictions
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz on the complexities of Native American identity
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, December 13, 2024
Overconsumed
Adam Minter on what happens to all the stuff we downsize, declutter, and discard
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, November 29, 2024
Fiction, Fakery, and Factory Farming
Spanish novelist Munir Hachemi talks about Living Things
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, November 15, 2024
American Horror Story
Jeremy Dauber on our obsession with fear
By Stephanie Bastek Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Writing on the Wall
Augustine Sedgewick on his discovery of Henry David Thoreau’s connection to slavery
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, October 18, 2024
This Woman’s Work
Susannah Gibson opens the parlor doors on 18th-century feminism
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, October 4, 2024
Queen of the Night
Leigh Ann Henion embraces the creatures that light up the dark
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 20, 2024
A Toothsome Tale
Bill Schutt chomps through millennia to share the story of our pearly whites
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 6, 2024
