• History

    The Classics

    On the Opaque Origins and Tumultuous Ancient History of Homer’s Odyssey

    Daniel Mendelsohn Considers the Legacy of a Civilization-Making Epic

     
    By Daniel Mendelsohn  April 9, 2025
    On Grief

    “The Past is Another Country.” On Fate, Grief and the Slow Disintegration of a Family in Zimbabwe

    By Peter Godwin  April 7, 2025
    The Holocaust

    Our Freedom is Fragile: Lessons From the Jewish Children Who Fled Nazi Germany

    By Pamela Newton  April 3, 2025
    The Natural World

    The Forest For the Trees: How “Backyard Biology” Can Lead to Scientific Breakthroughs

    By Thor Hanson  April 3, 2025
    Ancient History

    What We Can Learn About Death and the Afterlife From the Earliest Humans

    By Robert Garland  April 3, 2025
    Aging

    Suddenly Old, Suddenly the Other: On the Unfamiliar World of Aging

    By Douglas J. Penick  April 3, 2025
    Book Marks: What the Critics Are Saying
    American Literature

    American Literature’s White Whale: Why the “Great American Novel” is Still Worth Pursuing

    By Ed Simon  April 2, 2025
    Mythology

    The Beast Inside: What the Myth of the Minotaur Reveals About Human Nature

    By Natalie Lawrence  April 2, 2025
    New in Nonfiction

    From the Nightmares of the Third Reich to Elon Musk: 10 Nonfiction Books to Read in April

    By Literary Hub  March 31, 2025
    Friendships

    On the 40-Year Friendship of Toni Morrison and Fran Lebowitz

    Priya Vulchi Considers the Lifespans of Literary and Political Friendships

    By Priya Vulchi  April 9, 2025
    Retellings

    Poet, Mystic, Warrior, Visionary: Reimagining the Life and Art of an Aztec Ruler Lost in Myth

    By Ilan Stavans  March 27, 2025
    Dissidents

    A Brief History of America’s Campaign Against Dissident Newsmaking

    By Aaron Boehmer  March 26, 2025
    Pandemics

    How the Industrialization and Militarism of the Early 20th Century Helped Spread the Spanish Influenza

    By Edna Bonhomme  March 24, 2025
    The Hub

    A new study traces the history of Black American literary groups.

    By Brittany Allen  March 21, 2025
    The Cold War

    Between Existential Fear and Isolationist Exhaustion: The United States on the Eve of the Cold War

    By Clay Risen  March 21, 2025
    Historical Fiction

    What the Work of Literary Production Reveals About the Resonance of History

    By Stuart Nadler  March 19, 2025
    Education

    How Delayed Desegregation Deprived Black Children of Their Right to Education

    By Noliwe Rooks  March 19, 2025
    New York City

    On the Colonial Power Struggle That Would Give Birth to the City of New York

    For Historian Russell Shorto, It Was All About Water

    By Russell Shorto  March 18, 2025
    Israel

    The Former Head of Human Rights Watch on the Challenges of Reporting on the Abuses of Israel’s Government

    By Kenneth Roth  March 17, 2025
    Women's Rights

    Inside the Life and Struggle of Victorian-Era Women’s Rights Activist Annie Besant

    By Michael Meyer  March 14, 2025
    The Occult

    A Revolt Against Rationality: On the Utopian Dreams of Early 20th-Century Occultists

    By Raphael Cormack  March 14, 2025
    Vietnam

    How the Vietnam War Exposed America’s Military and Political Vulnerabilities

    James A. Warren on the Origins and Lasting Impact of a Generation-Defining Cold War Conflict

    By James A. Warren  March 14, 2025
    Inventions

    How Benjamin Franklin’s Cold Feet Led to a Revolutionary American Invention

    By Joyce E. Chaplin  March 11, 2025
    Irish History

    From Philly to Derry: On the Americans Who Armed the IRA During The Troubles

    By Ali Watkins  March 11, 2025
    Radio

    On the Episode That Changed Ira Glass’s This American Life Forever

    By Steve Oney  March 31, 2025
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