SPOTLIGHT

The Root Cause

Padraic X. Scanlan tells the real history of the Irish Potato Famine

By Stephanie Bastek Friday, March 14, 2025

SPOTLIGHT

The Root Cause

Padraic X. Scanlan tells the real history of the Irish Potato Famine

By Stephanie Bastek Friday, March 14, 2025

Read Me a Poem

“I Will Greet the Sun Again” by Forugh Farrokhzad

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Portrait of the Artist

Paolo Arao

Acts of devotion

Book Reviews

We Are the Borg

Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us?

Web Essays

Nights at the Opera

Long before he wrote his masterly novels, Stendhal was transformed by the power of music

Asturias Days

The Challenge

Read Me a Poem

“The Cucumber” by Nâzim Hikmet

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Smarty Pants Podcast

Going for Gold

Joshua Prager on a forgotten Olympic gymnast whose 1904 record still hasn’t been beaten

Tuning Up

Bards Behind Bars

Reading Sartre aloud inside a maximum-security prison

Asturias Days

Un Tinto

Article

In the Mushroom

True foraging isn’t the domain of the weekend warrior; it’s serious, serious business

Asturias Days

Consolidated Ruin

Read Me a Poem

“After Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes” by Emily Dickinson

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Portrait of the Artist

Luis Alvaro Sahagún Nuño

Ancestral healing

Article

Asteroid Hunters

The scientists and engineers who defend our planet day and night from potentially hazardous space rocks

Book Reviews

Who Would I Be Off My Meds

Can weaning oneself off pharmaceuticals ease the cycle of perpetual suffering?

Asturias Days

Brown Wasps

Read Me a Poem

“Writing in the Dark” by Denise Levertov

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Cover Story

Tiger Mom

At a forest preserve in India, a writer sees the world anew and learns how to focus her son’s restless mind

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current issue

“In Tunisia, the stones once brutalized by the Romans are now being protected from the soil. Here in New Mexico, the ground has been encouraged to swallow up the remains. The stones of this American Carthage whisper almost nothing of its past, choked by rising earth.”—Charles G. Salas, “American Carthage”

Plus: Elizabeth Kadetsky brings new meaning to the phrase “tiger mom,” Jessie Wilde profiles the scientists keeping us safe from space rocks, and Teri Michele Youmans follows her father’s memory to Enewetak Atoll

“In Tunisia, the stones once brutalized by the Romans are now being protected from the soil. Here in New Mexico, the ground has been encouraged to swallow up the remains. The stones of this American Carthage whisper almost nothing of its past, choked by rising earth.”—Charles G. Salas, “American Carthage”

Plus: Elizabeth Kadetsky brings new meaning to the phrase “tiger mom,” Jessie Wilde profiles the scientists keeping us safe from space rocks, and Teri Michele Youmans follows her father’s memory to Enewetak Atoll

Book Reviews

Who Would I Be Off My Meds

Can weaning oneself off pharmaceuticals ease the cycle of perpetual suffering?

Cover Story

Tiger Mom

At a forest preserve in India, a writer sees the world anew and learns how to focus her son’s restless mind

Article

American Carthage
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Echoes from the ancient conflicts between Hannibal’s city and Rome continue to reverberate well into the present

Article

Lessons From Harlem
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A white blues player’s streetside education

Commonplace Book

Spring 2025

Book Reviews

Who Would I Be Off My Meds

Can weaning oneself off pharmaceuticals ease the cycle of perpetual suffering?

Cover Story

Tiger Mom

At a forest preserve in India, a writer sees the world anew and learns how to focus her son’s restless mind

Article

American Carthage
loading

Echoes from the ancient conflicts between Hannibal’s city and Rome continue to reverberate well into the present

Article

Lessons From Harlem
loading

A white blues player’s streetside education

Commonplace Book

Spring 2025