Essay Time The Grand Illusion By Jim Holt Does time have a future? Yes, but how much of a future depends on what the ultimate fate of the cosmos turns out to be. More
Essay Communication Native Tongues By Simon Winchester The making of the Dictionary of American Regional English, a five-thousand-page, five-volume book documenting the history of American slang. More
Essay States of War The Persian Way of War By Tom Holland Unlike the Greeks, Xerxes viewed war as more than a simple matter of strategy. Rather, it was a means of flaunting global mastery. 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 Politics Tales of Brave Ulysses By H.W. Brands Ulysses S. Grant was overlooked by historians and underestimated by contemporaries. H.W. Brands reevaluates Grant’s presidency. More
Essay Eros Up Close and Personal By Noga Arikha The evolution of personal ads, from the newspaper to the social network. More
Essay Energy Truth Actually By Tom Roston A tour through a century of climate-change documentaries. 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