At the height of the housing crisis, one woman’s bureaucratic odyssey to discover who really owns her home leads her to startling revelations about the housing market.
Search results
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Vagabonds, Crafty Bauds, and the Loyal Huzza: A History of London at Night
In the 16th & 17th centuries, “nightwalking” was a transgressive act in a city still on the brink of total nighttime illumination, but with complex implications depending on your social status.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Home Is Where the Fraud Is
At the height of the housing crisis, one woman’s bureaucratic odyssey to discover who really owns her home leads her to startling revelations about the housing market.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Vagabonds, Crafty Bauds, and the Loyal Huzza: A History of London at Night
In the 16th & 17th centuries, “nightwalking” was a transgressive act in a city still on the brink of total nighttime illumination, but with complex implications depending on your social status.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Slavery and Freedom in New York City
The story of slavery in New York, the messy path to abolition, and a shameful history with which America has yet to come to terms.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Unlikely Roots of Solitary Confinement
In a perverse tribute to human endeavor, solitary confinement began as a reform. Thinkers in Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries imagined that it might be possible to induce criminals to change from within, especially if they could be kept isolated from one another and from the corruptions of the outside world. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s famous design for a Panopticon—a circular prison with a central “inspection house” that allowed authorities to look into any cell at any time—was predicated on the idea that the prisoner under constant surveillance would internalize authority’s gaze, and cease misbehaving.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Secret Life of Nuns
The writer stays with the Dominican Sisters of Houston and learns about the life they lead and the work they do: “‘I think a lot of them want some kind of sign,’ Pat says of the choice to wear the habit. ‘They want people to know.’ She also cites ‘that romanticism,’ as in (and this […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Death Penalty Has a Face: A DA’s Personal Story
A former Texas district attorney considers the death penalty, examining his own experience with seeking it in court, and why he now believes “the time for the death penalty has passed”: “The decision to seek death is the district attorney’s call. No one controls his or her decision. But there also is no question, at […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Justice’s Son
A profile of Ben Jealous, the president and CEO of the NAACP: “‘Governor,’ said Jealous. ‘You know the death penalty is used exclusively on poor people.’ “‘Yes.’ “‘You know it’s used disproportionately against blacks and Latinos.’ “‘Yes.’ “‘Well, Governor, this is what I want you to do: imagine the person you most worry about in […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
The Rise of Joan of Arc: How a Visionary Peasant Girl Defied a Dress Code and Challenged the Patriarchy
Following the guidance of the voices only she could hear, Joan, a peasant girl living in a world dominated by aristocrats and men, left her home to convince the dauphin—and many men along the way—that only she could save France and make him king.
