Shelf Life
Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby
Charlotte Salley
An excerpt from Candida Moss and Joel Baden’s investigation of the expanding religious and political scope of the popular retail chain
Reading with Patrick
Charlotte Salley
An excerpt from Michelle Kuo’s memoir on the life-changing power of literature
The Chinese Typewriter: A History
Charlotte Salley
Read an excerpt from Thomas Mullaney’s exploration of quick changing key strokes in China
American Eclipse
Charlotte Salley
David Baron’s illuminating exploration of the nation’s race to catch a Wild West eclipse
Drunks: An American History
Charlotte Salley
Read an excerpt from Christopher Finan’s look at the booze-soaked history of America
Zapped: From Infrared to X-rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light
Charlotte Salley
Read an excerpt from Bob Berman’s new journey into the mysteries of waves we can't see
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women
Charlotte Salley
Read an excerpt from Elizabeth Norton’s new give-it-to-me-straight history of 16th-century English gals
Red: The History of a Color
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Michel Pastoureau’s new book about the color of love and rage
Scurvy: The Disease of Discovery
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Jonathan Lamb’s new book about every sailor’s favorite ailment
23/7
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Keramet Reiter’s new book about the rise of solitary confinement
Ghostland
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Colin Dickey’s history of America’s most haunted places
How to Travel Without Seeing
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Andrés Neuman’s dispatches from Latin America
Weapons of Math Destruction
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Cathy O’Neil’s book on how Big Data increases inequality and threatens democracy
The Story of Egypt
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Joann Fletcher’s book about the civilization that shaped the world
A Road Unforeseen
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Meredith Tax’s book about the women fighting the Islamic State—and winning
I Contain Multitudes
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Ed Yong’s new book about the microbes within us
Catullus’ Bedspread
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Daisy Dunn’s new biography of Rome’s most erotic poet
Engineering Eden
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Jordan Fisher Smith’s new book about the trial that changed our national parks
“Guns Don’t Kill People, People Kill People” and Other Myths
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Dennis A. Henigan’s updated book about gun control
Neither Snow Nor Rain
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Devin Leonard’s eclectic history of the U.S. Postal Service
The Sting of the Wild
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Justin O. Schmidt’s new book about venomous bugs
Good Neighbors
Stephanie Bastek
An excerpt from Nancy L. Rosenblum’s new book about everyday American life
America’s Snake
Stephanie Bastek
An excerpt from Ted Levin’s new book about the rise and fall of the rattlesnake
My Life with Wagner
Stephanie Bastek
An excerpt from Christian Thielemann’s book about a lifetime of conducting
The Edge of the Empire
Stephanie Bastek
Travel ancient Britannia in this excerpt from Bronwen Riley’s new book
The Jazz of Physics
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Stephon Alexander’s book about the music of the universe
67 Shots
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Howard Means’s new history of the Kent State shootings
Black Hole Blues
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Janna Levin’s new book about the soundtrack of the universe
Nothing Ever Dies
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new book about Vietnam and the memory of war
The Mechanical Horse
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Margaret Guroff’s new history of the bicycle in America
The Rarest Bird in the World
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Vernon R. L. Head’s new memoir about the search for the Nechisar Nightjar
Graveyard Clay and The Dirty Dust
Stephanie Bastek
Compare two translations of “Cré na Cille,” Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s Irish masterpiece
The Profiteers
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Sally Denton’s book about the world-building Bechtel Corporation
The Firebrand and the First Lady
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Patricia Bell-Scott’s book about Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray
Five Dollars and a Pork Chop Sandwich
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Mary Frances Berry’s new book about vote buying
The Society of Genes
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher’s new book on evolutionary biology
Masters of Empire
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Michael A. McDonnell’s new book about Great Lakes Indians
One Child
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Sarah Conley’s new book about the morality of having children in our imperiled world
Hamburgers in Paradise
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Louise O. Fresco’s new book about the story of food
Database of Dreams
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Rebecca Lemov’s new book about the prehistory of Big Data
Getting Screwed
Stephanie Bastek
Read an excerpt from Alison Bass’s new book on sex workers and the law
The Mushroom at the End of the World
Stephanie Bastek
An excerpt from Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing’s new book about life in ecological crisis
A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from Adam Briggle’s new book about fighting Big Oil in Texas
Workshops of Empire
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from Eric Bennett’s new book about creative writing and the Cold War
Changing the Subject
Stephanie Bastek
An excerpt from Sven Birkerts’s latest book about art in the Internet age
Strangers Drowning
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from Larissa MacFarquhar’s new book about extreme virtue
The Invention of Nature
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from Andrea Wulf’s new book about Alexander von Humboldt
A Strange Business
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from James Hamilton’s new history of art dealership
The Meaning of the Library
Stephanie Bastek
A brief excerpt from a new collection of essays, edited by Alice Crawford
E-newsletter
THIS WEEK’S ARCHIVE PICK
Buoyancy
By Willard Spiegelman
In ye olde days, keeping your head above water had a more literal meaning—you wouldn’t want anything contaminated splashing into your mouth if you went swimming in a river or a lake. We hope a young Ben Franklin took this to heart in 1726, when he swam the Thames from Chelsea to Blackfriars just for fun. Nowadays, swimmers such as Willard Spiegelman fully immerse themselves in chlorine solitude, whether or not they choose to don a bathing cap. Read this essay from the Summer 2008 issue to rediscover the art of swimming, an activity that “returns us to ourselves.”
WEB EXCLUSIVES
Editors’ Picks
Best-of lists from bad romances to Shakespearean verse
The Guest List
We ask our favorite writers about their favorite titles
The Daily Scholar Archives
The complete collection of our blogs, including Zinsser on Friday and our weekly Writing Lessons
Online Essays
Works you won’t find in print, from the likes of Harold Holzer, Wendy Smith, and Neil Shea
Bible Nation
By Candida Moss and Joel Baden
An excerpt from Candida Moss and Joel Baden’s investigation of the expanding religious and political scope of Hobby Lobby
