Spring 2016

Cover Story

Saving the Self in the Age of the Selfie

We must learn to humanize digital life as actively as we’ve digitized human life—here’s how

by James McWilliams

Articles

Common Sense

It’s time for police officers to start demanding gun laws that could end up saving their own lives

by Robert Wilson

A New Heaven and a New Earth

During the Spanish Civil War, an alternative vision of society briefly flourished in Barcelona

by Adam Hochschild

I Will Love You in the Summertime

Between the rupture of life and the rapture of language lies a world of awe and witness

by Christian Wiman

The Remains of My Days

Fond and fading memories of a robust literary life

by Doris Grumbach

Meditation on a Rat

Who would have thought that this unlikely creature could help make a family whole again?

by Lucy Ferriss

Kindly Nervous

My sweet, gentle parents had their demons, but they kept me safe

by Lee Smith

Departments

Book Essay

Inscriber’s Block

Inscriber’s Block

Just because you can write a book doesn’t mean you can sign one

Ralph Keyes

Book Reviews

Lives of the Philosophers

Lives of the Philosophers

The postwar thinkers who stripped the world of preconceptions

Amanda Vaill
Taking It to the Street

Taking It to the Street

What it’s like to be down and out in America

Jill Leovy
The Pursuit of Middle Heaven

The Pursuit of Middle Heaven

Missives about sex, love, and the value of really good talk

George O’Brien
I Think,  Therefore ...

I Think, Therefore ...

How much can we really know about the mystery of ourselves?

Kathryn Tabb
As the Bard Turns

As the Bard Turns

The international appeal of the man from Stratford-upon-Avon

Wendy Smith
The Spirit  of May 35th

The Spirit of May 35th

A tale of dissidence, exile, astrophysics, and puckish wit

Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Speaking in Form and Color

Speaking in Form and Color

The extraordinary paintings of an ordinary man

Lincoln Perry