In “Night Moves,” Jessica Hopper is 80% on her bike and 20% at a show, memorializing a young adulthood spent in just one of “a million Chicagos” — but one that shaped a wide network of artists and writers.
memoir
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Hiking With Nietzsche
An infirmed Friedrich Nietzsche hiked the Swiss Alps to work on his writing. Philosopher John Kaag followed Nietzsche’s trail, taking the great thinker’s ideas out of his books and into the world.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
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.”
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
A Song for the River
In the mountains of southwestern New Mexico, a seasoned fire lookout watches as his beloved forest and his personal life burn, and he tries to imagine what will arise from their ashes.
Posted inNonfiction, Story
Vanishing Twins
After years of bonding closely with other people, one woman finally goes searching for herself.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Not Quite Not White
Sharmila Sen grew up understanding distinctions between castes and religions, between the educated and the illiterate. Race was a distinction she didn’t understand until she came to America.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Story
A Girl’s Guide to Missiles
A professor returns to the California military base where she grew up to make sense of her family’s role developing weapons for the US government.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Michelle Tea and the Betrayal of Queer Memoir
Memoir is always a betrayal. When writing about life in queer subcultures, the harm of honesty can feel even greater.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Nonfiction, Story
Eight Things You Need to Know About Me and the Beach
A white woman came up to my mother, leaned in close and said, “We whites have to stick together against the Asian invasion.” My mother was ecstatic. “She liked me! They like me here!”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How to Stay Married After Your Baby is Born, or, I’m not Divorced Yet
An excerpt of “Now My Heart is Full,” Laura June’s memoir, about the challenges new parenthood placed on her and her husband — and their marriage.