Articles
Solitude and Leadership
If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts
by William Deresiewicz
Reading in a Digital Age
Notes on why the novel and the Internet are opposites, and why the latter both undermines the former and makes it more necessary
by Sven Birkerts
Nabokov Lives On
Why his unfinished novel, Laura, deserved to be published; what’s left in the voluminous archive of his unpublished work
by Brian Boyd
To Die of Having Lived
A neurological surgeon reflects on what patients and their families should and should not do when the end draws near
by Richard Rapport
Departments
Editor's Note
Letter From …
Tuning Up
Works in Progress
Point of Departure
Commonplace Book
Book Reviews
Truth and Consequences
In the Whitewater investigation, the biggest loser was the legal profession
Lincoln Caplan
The Lovable Leviathan
Whales hold a special place in our imagination, but their situation is dire
Sy Montgomery
A Long, Cold Road to Paris
The 2,000-mile, 40-day journey of future first lady Louisa Catherine Adams
Paul C. Nagel
The Debacle Before the Disaster
At Dien Bien Phu, the French got a lesson the U.S. would take two decades to learn