The author of Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age and The Immortal King Rao on memorable meals and books about whales.
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Posted inEditor's Pick
The Editor Who Moves Theory Into the Mainstream
Among a certain breed of academic (and academia-adjacent) reader, Duke University Press holds an unswayable cachet. And in this tight, arch profile of Duke UP editor Ken Wissokur, Jennifer Wilson does the magazine version of what Wissokur does with his authors and their scholarly books: take something that sounds dreadfully dry, and make it perfectly […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Night Gary Drove Me Home
“It is not a normal thing to do—to acknowledge to yourself that you may have slept with a serial killer.”
Posted inUncategorized
A banger of a Christmas story, best of 2023, and more
“I have enjoyed many happy Christmases and plenty of disappointing ones, like the one I spent eating alone at a Waffle House due to an ice storm, or the Christmas my father accused all the unmarried relatives of being gay. But of all the sad Yuletides of my life, the one I spent guarding $100,000 […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Enduring Joy of Maps (and the Week’s Top 5)
“Empty spaces on maps were so terrifying to ancient mapmakers that they filled them with decorations, fictional landscapes, and monsters. We moderns miss the beautiful monsters, but what if they never actually disappeared? What if the monsters were always part of the map, part of mapping itself?” After many months of hearing about how great […]
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Jill McCabe Johnson, Stacey Anderson, Megan Pillow, Barry Blanchard, and Elizabeth Rush.
Posted inNewsletter
Detectives at Work and the Week’s Top 5
“Ronald was my mother’s uncle, a fashion designer who fled Texas for New York at 19. I met him only once. In my memory, we are sitting on the front porch, the hairs standing up on my arms as the sun wanes. His head is bent over a piece of paper, sketching my 7-year-old face. […]
Posted inNewsletter
Remembering, Forgetting, and The Week’s Top 5
Two brand new essays and The Weekly Top 5.
Posted inNewsletter
Friction, Travel Writing, and Our Top 5
A reading list on friction, an interview about travel writing, and the week’s Top 5.
Posted inNewsletter
A Forgotten Deportation, a New Questionnaire Series, and Our Top 5
An essay about a forgotten deportation and the reckoning it left behind, a glimpse into Maria Popova’s writing and reading life, and our five recommended stories of the week.
