Fractured Odysseus
The psychiatrist Jonathan Shay’s books on Homer are the key to Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey
By Colin Dickey Thursday, August 20, 2026
Gratitude Isn’t Everything
The revolutionary Patriots owed much to their forefathers, but their fight for universal rights embraced a wider mission
By Robert A. Gross Friday, July 31, 2026
It All Comes Down to This
As the recent World Cup showed, the drama of a penalty shootout can at times be Shakespearean
By Eric Wills Thursday, July 30, 2026
What He Stood For
How Angus Cameron, one of the most significant editors in the history of American publishing, responded to being targeted by the McCarthy blacklist
By Jonathan Coleman Friday, April 24, 2026
Who Is Blake Whiting?
The most astonishingly productive historian in recent times is someone you’ll never meet
By Andrew Lawler Thursday, April 16, 2026
The Importance of Being Idle
What Paul Lafargue taught us about work
By Robert Zaretsky Monday, March 30, 2026
Gilded Guilt
On Taylor Swift, Julian Fellowes, and the class conflicts that never die
By Jessa Crispin Friday, February 13, 2026
The Popper Principle
Did Plato really espouse ideas that led eventually to totalitarianism?
By Robert Zaretsky Thursday, January 29, 2026
It’s a Wonderful (Falling Apart) Life
In the disrepair of our everyday world are suggestions of life’s burdens and consolations
By Ben Slote Friday, December 19, 2025
The Conspiracist Cotton Mather
The zealot who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials initially voiced restraint—what changed?
By Colin Dickey Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Stereotypes and the City
What to make of HBO’s attempts to diversify an iconic show?
By Sharon Sochil Washington Thursday, April 25, 2024
Ripeness Is All
What may be the fate of classical music’s new superstars?
By Joseph Horowitz Thursday, April 11, 2024
The Very Elder Statesman
Konrad Adenauer transformed West Germany, doing his best work as an octogenarian
By Mark N. Grant Friday, March 8, 2024
Iris as Pupil
Before this canonical English writer published novels, she was a student of French postwar philosophy
By Robert Zaretsky Friday, March 1, 2024
Starving
The feelings of yearning and loss, when faced with an empty nest, can manifest in striking ways
By Laura Bernstein-Machlay Friday, February 23, 2024
A State of Perpetual Unease
Sartre’s essay on French anti-Semitism cast the problem in existential terms
By Robert Zaretsky Friday, December 15, 2023
Keeping House
Clinging to the rituals of home—even when longing to let them go
By Amanda Parrish Morgan Friday, November 17, 2023
Philip Gove and “Our Word”
A lexicographer remembers the worst frigging part of the job
By David Skinner Friday, November 10, 2023
Beethoven Underground
One ensemble bids farewell, with another just getting started
