New books about the opioid crisis — “Dopesick,” “Fight for Space” and “American Fix” — have different ideas about who’s to blame and what to do next. Our critic says regulating supply can have deadly consequences, and we need to address users’ pain.
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Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, History, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
America’s Post-Frontier Hangover
America binged on expansion, relying on land grabs as an engine of growth and a way to externalize racial hatred. Historian Greg Grandin asks, without a frontier, what can America be?
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
The Need for Distance: Jaclyn Gilbert on Writing and Running
For author Jaclyn Gilbert, revising her writing is much like doing the same running loops over and over, to the point where she doesn’t have to think about where she’s going anymore.
Posted inBooks, History, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘I Inherited Luck’: Bridgett M. Davis on Her Family’s Life in the Numbers
In a new memoir, novelist Bridgett M. Davis reveals that her mother was a Numbers operator in Detroit from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Can Amazon’s Alexa Be Your Friend?
A look at the rise of digital assistants, and how Alexa is not only getting smarter, but becoming an emotional companion for people who face loneliness and social anxiety.
Posted inNonfiction
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez
In the story of one Mexican-American woman’s life, we can see the whole tragic story of the US-Mexico border’s transformation from a simple chain-link fence to a humanitarian crisis.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
In Defense of Schadenfreude
Historian Tiffany Watt Smith argues that schadenfreude, the joy we derive from another’s misfortune, is just a natural part of the very complex emotional responses we have as human beings.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Science & Nature, Story
Pam Houston on Coming Clean, Climate Change, and ‘Writing Deeply Into the Grasses’
Pam Houston’s new memoir is an ode to her beloved ranch, but also deals directly with the harrowing moments of childhood abuse that her fictional characters have been living through for years.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Science & Nature, Story
The Science of Dreaming
Science journalist Alice Robb on why we need to take our dreams seriously.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
Guy Gunaratne on the ‘Push-Pull of Ancestry and Meaning’ in London
Guy Gunaratne’s Man Booker-longlisted “In Our Mad and Furious City” recognizes multiple, overlapping versions of London and its inhabitants, examining the ways violence can bubble up through the city’s fissures.
