Kings and popes thought she was their pawn. The Merchant’s Daughter begged to differ.
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The Neanderthal
Jen Gilman Porat seeks a genetic excuse for her husband’s barbaric table manners.
Maybe What We Need Is … More Politics?
Recent books by economists who hope to “save capitalism” dismiss popular ideas as “just politics.” But why assume the popular is the enemy of the good?
Is New York the Most Corrupt State in the Nation?
A robust local media is important to rooting out corruption, but so is a well-informed electorate.
Dancing Backup: Puerto Ricans in the American Muchedumbre
Carina del Valle Schorske traces a lineage of Puerto Rican backup dancers in American entertainment from Rita Moreno to JLo.
When It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Old House
Siddhartha Mahanta looks back at the small suburban starter house in Texas that helped his immigrant father redefine “home.”
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
“There’s an idea that laborers end up in their role because it’s all they’re suited for. What put us there, though, was birth, family history — not lack of talent for something else.”
The Writer Alone
A woman out of her mind, locked in an apartment. This, I believed, was the optimal, and probably only, condition under which art could be made.
The Dead End on My Record Shelf
I believed that there was no music existing in the world with an unbroken connection to its original context. I was wrong.
The Miracle of the Mundane
In an excerpt from her new essay collection, Heather Havrilesky calls for tuning out the online cacophony telling us we aren’t enough, and tuning in to the soul-affirming, quiet truth of the present moment.
