Keepers of the Old Ways
Eliot Stein on the people keeping cultural traditions alive
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, January 17, 2025
“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 Christophe by 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
By Megan Craig Thursday, January 2, 2025
London: A Testament to Survival
England is a lesson on the longevity of our planet, the tenacity of our species, and our need, as human beings, to connect.
By Karen J. Coates Friday, September 25, 2020
Who’s the Nerd Now?
How geek culture finally triumphed
By Stephanie Bastek Friday, September 25, 2020
You Can’t Go Home Again
American volunteers joined western allies in the fight to dismantle the Islamic State in Syria. What happened when they came back?
By Kenneth R. Rosen Thursday, September 24, 2020
Admired and Abhorred
The German composer whose legacy continues to confound
By Steven G. Kellman Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of MusicAlex Ross
A Mind on Fire
In his acclaimed trilogy of intellectual biographies, Robert D. Richardson sought to help us overcome the burden of the past
By Sam Gee Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Beneath the Powdered Wig
Reinterpreting the life of our trendiest Founding Father
By Nancy Isenberg Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons From a Misunderstood Founder by Christian Parenti
Varieties of Experience
Culture rewires our brains and shapes how we think
By T. M. Luhrmann Wednesday, September 23, 2020
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrichby Joseph Henrich
The Poet Who Painted
Max Jacob, who helped introduce Picasso to the French, was a talented artist in his own right