SPOTLIGHT

The Epic Viking Saga of the Everyday

Eleanor Barraclough on the ordinary people of Norse history

By Stephanie Bastek Friday, January 31, 2025

SPOTLIGHT

The Epic Viking Saga of the Everyday

Eleanor Barraclough on the ordinary people of Norse history

By Stephanie Bastek Friday, January 31, 2025

Read Me a Poem

“Envoy” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Article

Give Us Something to Look At

Why ornament matters in architecture

Asturias Days

Christmas Format

Read Me a Poem

“The Mist on the Mountain” by Loren Eiseley

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Book Reviews

Heavy Mettle

A story of oppression and resilience

Web Essays

A State of Perpetual Unease

Sartre’s essay on French anti-Semitism cast the problem in existential terms

Article

Shooting a Dog

During a deployment in Iraq, a young soldier confronts a fundamental paradox about the masculine temperament in wartime

Asturias Days

Lighting a Match

Read Me a Poem

“The Coming of Light” by Mark Strand

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Book Reviews

All Talk

Ease of communication will not save us

Asturias Days

Burned

Read Me a Poem

“The White Heart of God” by Jack Gilbert

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Portrait of the Artist

Paige Ledom

Out of the ordinary

Article

The Brahmin and His Imaginary Friend

How a classic paean to the honest virtues of a Maine fisherman obscured several ugly truths

Old Christ Church in Alexandria. Virginia, attended by General Robert E. Lee in his youth and pictured here in 1911 (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign/Wikimedia Commons)
Book Reviews

Divided Providence

Faith’s pivotal role in the outcome of the Civil War

Asturias Days

Cudillero

Read Me a Poem

“The Terrorist, He’s Watching” by Wislawa Szymborska

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Smarty Pants Podcast

Keepers of the Old Ways

Eliot Stein on the people keeping cultural traditions alive

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current issue

Book Reviews

Aging Out

Many of us do not go gentle into that good night

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Only rarely did the outside world intrude on an idyllic Connecticut childhood, but in the tumultuous 1960s, that intrusion included an encounter with evil

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The Art of Tuning In

Celebrating 20 years of poetry in the Scholar

Commonplace Book

Winter 2025

Book Reviews

Aging Out

Many of us do not go gentle into that good night

Article

The Fair Fields
loading

Only rarely did the outside world intrude on an idyllic Connecticut childhood, but in the tumultuous 1960s, that intrusion included an encounter with evil

Poetry

The Art of Tuning In

Celebrating 20 years of poetry in the Scholar

Commonplace Book

Winter 2025