Essay Disaster Pressure Drop By Simon Winchester Exploring—and ignoring—climate chaos in the South Pacific. More
Essay Comedy Once Upon a Time in the West By Ben Tarnoff How a simple story of a man and his talented frog made Mark Twain a national celebrity. More
Essay Magic Shows A Well Without a Bottom By John Crowley Have devils, demons, and spirits disappeared from the world, or do we just no longer know their names? More
Essay Book of Nature The Art of Nature By Frederick Turner Human art, fiction, invention, and technology are not unnatural forces that have suddenly erupted into nature, but rather the natural continuation of nature’s own evolutionary processes. More
Essay Philanthropy Treasure in Heaven By Peter Brown St. Augustine and other early Christians challenged the Roman idea of charity by invoking the ultimate authority—God. More
Essay Food Balanced Diets By Daniel Mason Pica is an unexplainable food curiosity—the overwhelming desire to eat the inedible. More
Essay Religion Freedom by Necessity By Terry Eagleton At the heart of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov is a religious set piece in which Jesus is questioned on his return to Earth. More
Essay The City Waiting for Goffman By Michael Dirda There are few better interpreters of modern metropolitan life than sociologist Erving Goffman. More
