Essay Sports & Games The Best of It By Beth Raymer The key to winning money is knowing a good line when you see one. 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 Crimes & Punishments Staking a Life By Christopher Hitchens Why is the United States so wedded to the infliction of the death penalty? 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 States of Mind The Person in the Ape By Ferris Jabr A history of humans trying and failing to understand the minds of apes. 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 Lines of Work The Mother of Possibility By Sven Birkerts Idleness is what happens when we thwart the impulse to plan forward, and instead enjoy the present. More
Essay Medicine In the Midst of Death By John Crowley If the universe can’t outlive or transcend individual consciousness, does death even really exist? More
