The American Scholar, the magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society

Essays

Picture of a plate of spaghetti, hands in the background

Bless Us, O Instagram

The social media site has popularized grain bowls, kale smoothies—and a new form of prayer

Theodore Gioia

L’Après-Midi d’un Minimalist Writer

Ann Beattie

Summer on the Sweet Grass

Notes from a Montana ranch

Thomas McNamee

The Great Summer Read

Why do we persist in this often futile literary quest?

Joseph Luzzi

Blue and white striped umbrellas at a beach

Here Comes the Sun

What to read when it arrives

Our Editors

Six Books for Earth Day

These underrated nature writers bring the great outdoors to your living room

Becca Cudmore

Five Great Irish Films

A list of classic Irish movies not made by John Ford

Ruth Barton

The Greatest Escapes

The 13 boldest getaways in literature

Our Editors

“An Essay on Man: Epistle 1” by Alexander Pope

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Amanda Holmes

“The Makers” by Howard Nemerov

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Amanda Holmes

“Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt

Poems read aloud, beautifully

Essays

Lists

Poetry

By Benjamin J. Pauli

Mondays

Portrait of the Artist

An artist describes a work of art

by Noelani Kirschner

Tuesdays

Next Line, Please

David Lehman collaborates with our readers on a poem.

by David Lehman

Wednesdays

View from Rue Saint-Georges

An American in Paris

by Thomas Chatterton Williams

Thursdays

Measure by Measure

Classical music reconsidered

by Sudip Bose

Fridays

Asturias Days

An American émigré muses on the language and culture of northern Spain.

by Clellan Coe