On Kindness
Almost everybody wants to be thought of as kind, if only as a strategy
By Edward Hoagland Wednesday, December 1, 2021
The Sondheim Way
Ambition, freedom, and the importance of innovation
By Wendy Smith Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The Art of Losing
The end of the war in Afghanistan shows the danger of our commitment to perpetual optimism
By Elizabeth D. Samet Tuesday, November 30, 2021
“Farewell” by Agha Shahid Ali
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The Capital of Self-Reliance
How a backwater became a philosophical powerhouse
By Anne Matthews Monday, November 29, 2021
The Transcendentalists and Their World by Robert A. Gross
Spinning a Good Yarn
Once upon a time, Clara Parkes adopted a 676-pound bale of wool and got an inside look at a disappearing industry
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, November 26, 2021
The Bird That Sang I Am
Poems about the place where we belong
By Christian Wiman Thursday, November 25, 2021
“The Purse-Seine” by Robinson Jeffers
Poems read aloud, beautifully
By Amanda Holmes Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Island Royalty
A new biography of a Caribbean revolutionary
By Madison Smartt Bell Monday, January 13, 2025
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christopheby Marlene L. Daut
The Writer in the Family
The fiction of E. L. Doctorow gave a young man hope of connecting his father and his literary hero
By Jonathan Liebson Wednesday, January 8, 2025
The Weight of a Stone
Searching for stability in an erratic world led Oliver Sacks and other writers to the realms of geology