Essay The City Necropolis By Colin Dickey The corpse has proved to be a bedeviling problem for the city—how do we live with our dead? 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 Night The Fading Stars: A Constellation By Holly Haworth How the new astronomy obscured the traditional night sky. More
Essay Intoxication Last Testaments By Francine Prose What do artists and writers do when they are faced with the imminence of death? Francine Prose reviews the final works of historian Tony Judt. More
Essay The City Dickens in Lagos By George Packer In Nigeria, modernity hasn’t yet begun to solve the problems of people thrown together in the urban cauldron. More
Essay Politics Trial by Fire By Anthony Grafton Hot gospelling preacher or savvy political operator? Reexamining the life and times of Girolamo Savonarola. More
Essay Discovery How to Cross a Field of Snow By Robert Moor A primer for reconnoitering the unknown. More
Essay Disaster Pressure Drop By Simon Winchester Exploring—and ignoring—climate chaos in the South Pacific. More
Essay The City A Matter of Optics By Warren Breckman Rulers of cities have always had an interest in visibility, both in representing their power and in controlling people by seeing them. More
Essay Politics Between the Lines By Robert Boyers A look at the crossroads where literature and politics meet, and the relationship between art and ideas. More
