What’s Unsaid
A poem for Sunday
What Politicians’ Libraries Tell Us
What, and whether, our world leaders read provides crucial insight into their minds and priorities.
Why Do Fascists Love Dante?
Italy’s far right has misguidedly claimed the medieval poet as one of its own for more than a century.
The Masterpiece No One Wanted to Save
Censored and then forgotten, Anatoly Kuznetsov’s Babi Yar, about the Nazi occupation of Kyiv, is again painfully relevant.
It’s Important I Remember That Nina Simone Wrote ‘Mississippi Goddam’ in Less Than One Hour—
A Football Memoir, With Tears
A new book by the former coach of the Giants offers a human counterbalance to the heroics and chest-thumping of the Super Bowl.
Six Books That Will Change How You Look at Art
These titles expand our understanding of creative work—and affirm that it is fundamental to how we process the world.
The Case of the Unknowable Human
Dorothy Sayers’s most famous character is a detective who solves crimes with elegance—but he finds the deeper enigmas of human beings always out of reach.
Sports Offer More Than Winning
Female athletes have been subject to harmful expectations for years. They want to bring back the joy.
What Is It About Pamela Anderson?
The model and actor drove men wild. She’s still enduring the consequences.
The Police Can Be Reformed. These Two Books Lay Out How.
In the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’s killing, it’s easy to despair. But two new books show how police departments can alter their behavior.
America’s Byron
Remembering the poet and novelist James Dickey on his centennial
A New Way to Read Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald never explicitly states Jay Gatsby’s race.
Did George Washington Burn New York?
Americans disparaged the British as arsonists. But the rebels fought with fire too.
The Miraculous Salman Rushdie
His enchanting new novel is a triumph.
Background
A short story
Elaine Hsieh Chou on the Ethics of ‘Trauma Porn’
“If you are retraumatizing the very audience a piece of media is supposedly for, can it really be for them?”
Poem Beginning With a Sentence From My Last Will & Testament
What Kids Learn From Hard Conversations
Talking with children about painful topics can be complicated—but it can help shape their worldview for life.
What to Read When You’re Expecting
These writers go beyond the realm of standard guidebooks to offer generous insight and reassurance.