George Saunders reflects on his writing process, suggesting that the magical, romantic notion where fully formed art leaps from the author’s brain on to the page does the writer, the reader, and the work a disservice. In reality, it takes “hundreds of drafts” and “thousands of incremental adjustments” to form a story into a “hopeful […]
Editor’s Pick
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A Real Life Look at the Crazy Odds and Tortured Dreams of Making It in La La Land
La La Land made the spoils of the spotlight look seductively attractive. This portrait of two of LA’s countless talented aspirants brings you back to earth.
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The Roots of Cowboy Music
At the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, writer Carvell Wallace reflects on what it means to be black and American.
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Chromophobia
Western architecture is paralyzed by a fear of color, argues David Batchelor in this extract from his classic polemic, Chromophobia. Paralyzed — and fascinated.
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Falling in Love with Words: The Secret Life of a Lexicographer
In an excerpt from her new book, Merriam-Webster lexicographer Kory Stamper describes how she fell in love with words and offers a peek into the complex process of making dictionaries.
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This Article Won’t Change Your Mind
The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs.
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What Happens If a Nuclear Bomb Goes Off in Manhattan?
Researcher William Kennedy, who along with Andrew Cooks, is mining data from past tragedies such as the 1917 Halifax Explosion, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina to run computer simulations studying how humans would respond after a nuclear attack on Manhattan, New York.
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Into The Woods: How One Man Survived Alone in the Wilderness For 27 years
An excerpt from The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit — Michael Finkel’s book on Christopher Knight, the man who simply walked away from the modern world into the woods of rural Maine in 1986 — without any real plan for survival. Living alone for 27 years in a […]
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A Town Under Trial
What an unsolved double murder in Kentucky reveals about America’s military-industrial complex.
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In Praise of Cash
Cash might be grungy, unfashionable and corruptible, but it is still a great public good, important for rich and poor alike.