Essay Magic Shows Stage Light By Andrew McConnell Stott The life of artist and scenographer Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, and the role of the occult in the history of special effects. More
Essay The Sea A Winelike Sea By Caroline Alexander Homer’s famous “wine-dark sea” has left scholars wondering: how did the Greeks truly see the sea? More
Essay Democracy Our Chief Danger By William Hogeland The story of the democratic movements that the framers of the U.S. Constitution feared and sought to suppress. More
Essay Lines of Work Pushing Paper By Ben Kafka Paperwork has never fit comfortably into our idea of what work means—it has no heroes and few sympathies. More
Essay Magic Shows W.B. Yeats, Magus By Jamie James For William Butler Yeats, poetry was a kind of magic. More
Essay Death Last Meals By Brent Cunningham The choice of the final meal contains a curious paradox: why mark the end of a life with the stuff that fuels it? More
Essay Epidemic The Virus and the Martians By Mike Jay In H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, an all-conquering civilization had no defense against a humble microbe. More
Essay Family The Stories We Live With By Philip Connors Death turned his brother into a cipher, and it would take a return home to collect the pieces of a shattered life. More
