But he died before he could finish his book on natural history. As Emerson put it, Thoreau “depart[ed] out of Nature before… he has been really shown to his peers for what he is.”
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Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
The Immigration-Obsessed, Polarized, Garbage-Fire Election of 1800
A madman versus a crook? Unexpected twists? Fake news? Welcome to the election of 1800.
Posted inNonfiction
Longreads Best of 2016: Essays & Criticism
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in essays and criticism.
Posted inBooks, Fiction
Excerpt: ‘The Red Car’ by Marcy Dermansky
“The car had upset me. Judy had found a parking space right in front of the restaurant and I could see the red car from our table. Taunting me.”
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
On Graywolf Press and the Lyric Essay
Over at New York magazine, Boris Kachka has a piece looking at how the tiny, Minnesota-based Graywolf Press became a major player in book publishing. As the publisher of books like Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts (read the first chapter here!) and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, Graywolf Press has helped turn “the previously unprepossessing genre of the ‘lyric essay’ into a major […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
A Reading List for the Start of Summer
Time for flip-flops, sunscreen, and, of course, summer reading.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
King-Killers in America (and the American Who Avenged the King)
When Charles II regained the throne, he launched a global manhunt for the judges who had sentenced his father to death.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Writing Our America
“Despite the headlines that came after the election calling this country ‘Trump’s America’—and there were many—I won’t call it that, or see it that way. And regardless of your politics I’ll ask you to join me. This is our America. It’s our America to write in, and our America to write.”
Posted inNonfiction
Little Government in the Big Woods
Melissa Gilbert’s lost bid for Congress and the forgotten political history of ‘Little House on the Prairie.’
Posted inNonfiction, Quote Posts, Reading List
The Art and Business of Book Covers
Here are pieces I’ve enjoyed, new and old, about the art and business of book cover design.
