Claudia Goldin on Career and Family October 15, 2021 A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female college graduates than ever before, and more women want to have a career and family, yet challenges persist at work and at home. Read More
Poverty, pandemic, and peace of mind October 14, 2021 When COVID-19 spread around the world, I was living in the south of France, but my mind was in the U.S. south. Read More
A social democratic surprise: The results of the German elections October 12, 2021 The first election after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s retirement was eagerly awaited, since it would show the direction of Germany’s and Europe’s future. Read More
Kyle Harper on Plagues upon the Earth October 06, 2021 Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. Read More
A look inside City of Dreams October 03, 2021 On April 10, 1962, amid ceremony and celebration, Dodger Stadium, major league baseball’s modern showpiece, opened in Los Angeles, California. Read More
Shelley Frisch on the work (and play) of translation September 30, 2021 Award-winning translator Shelley Frisch shares her thoughts about the principles that guide her work, rituals that she turns to as she settles in with a work, and what she enjoys most about translating texts. Read More
The fall of Kabul and the new decolonization September 28, 2021 The collapse of the Western-backed regime in Afghanistan in August 2021, and the subsequent images of the chaotic retreat of the American-led forces from Kabul Airport—grandiosely named after the former President of a now-defunct regime, Hamid Karzai—fits easily into the photo album of contemporary history. Read More
All stories are stories about food September 27, 2021 A confession: for many years I lived a double life—as a writer, anyway. I started as a scholar of the Renaissance and antiquity who loved to cook, to eat, and to taste wine; then, by various happy accidents, I began to receive requests that I actually write about cooking, eating, and tasting wine. Read More
Kathryn Paige Harden on The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality September 20, 2021 In recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health—and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society. Read More
Galaxies, the expanding universe, and the Big Bang September 19, 2021 Stars are so far away, they appear as unresolved points of light, even through modern telescopes. But seventeenth-century astronomers noticed a number of other objects in the sky that were extended and often fuzzy looking. Read More
The soft pipes September 16, 2021 As a philosopher who writes about love, I am sometimes asked what I love. I could answer in particulars: specific people, places, and objects. Read More
A look inside The War for Gaul: A New Translation September 13, 2021 Caesar deserves to be compared with Alexander the Great. No one before or since comes close. Read More
Anne-Marie Slaughter on Renewal September 07, 2021 Like much of the world, America is deeply divided over identity, equality, and history. Renewal is Anne-Marie Slaughter’s candid and deeply personal account of how her own odyssey opened the door to an important new understanding of how we as individuals, organizations, and nations can move backward and forward at the same time, facing the past and embracing a new future. Read More
On bees, flowers, and patience September 06, 2021 It was cool among the Tamarisk and they misted on me lightly. I sat, hugging my legs to my chest, chin resting on my knees. I resisted the urge to swish away the bugs exploring my ears and eyebrows. Read More
Daniel M. Davis on The Secret Body August 29, 2021 New science of the human body is changing our lives. In The Secret Body, leading scientist Daniel M. Davis looks across six frontiers—cells, the embryo, the body’s organs and tissues, the brain, the microbiome, and the human genome—where revolutionary new understanding is emerging. Read More
