Lessons in the Diplomatic Arts

Notes from a musical tour of South Africa

Visions From Jura

What the world looked like to George Orwell during his final days

The Resistance Fighter as Philosopher

Remembering Vladimir Jankélévitch

The Diagnostician of Despair

Why Rousseau believed that Enlightenment values would lead us to ruin

On Book

August Wilson’s play just hit the big screen, but even greater rewards await on the page

The Baritone as Democrat

How Lawrence Tibbett prophesied the Metropolitan Opera crisis of today

My Cousin Manya

One survivor’s story

Writer on Board

The cruise story from Twain to Shteyngart

Nights at the Opera

Long before he wrote his masterly novels, Stendhal was transformed by the power of music

A Terrifying Delight

Following Robert Frost into the depths

The Conspiracist Cotton Mather

The zealot who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials initially voiced restraint—what changed?

Baby Shoggoth Is Listening

Why are some writers tailoring their work for AI, and what does this mean for the future of writing and reading?

What Is an American Hero, Anyway?

Lists of great artists say more about the list-maker than the artist

My First Novel

A jean jacket, a muse, and a dream

Inner Demon Hunters

Could a hit animated movie hold the key to healing generational trauma in Korea?

Days of Awe

The Romantics sought the sublime in nature, but the feeling may be experienced in humanity, too

Key Change

A life with Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique

The Great American Travel Book

The book that helped revive a genre, leading to an all-too-brief heyday

Immaculate Innings

At the ballpark on a summer night in Baltimore

The Patient Penelope Fitzgerald

Here’s to the English writer who waited until her ninth decade to finally experience fame in America

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