Essays
Do You Actually Have to Finish That Novel?
A critic considers the strange moral pressure we feel to read to the very last page
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Essays
What Irony Makes Visible
Fifty years later, Stephen Shore's photographs reveal an impending crisis
December 10, 2024
My Rosary
A priest from my childhood was convicted of embezzlement. Years later, he still informs my faith.
November 27, 2024
The Role of the Modern Writer
In his work for The Yale Review, Thomas Mann grappled with an artist’s relationship to society
November 21, 2024
The Apostle of Love
How Thomas Mann discovered sensual education in The Magic Mountain
November 20, 2024
A Lost Future for the Middle East
Religious pluralism was a possibility after the Ottoman Empire. European colonialism changed that.
October 22, 2024
Facing America’s Social Crisis
The United States is at a turning point in economic policy. What happens next is crucial.
October 22, 2024
History Is Repeating Itself in Ukraine
Cycles of nationalism have existed for centuries. What do they reveal?
October 22, 2024
How the Radical Right Remade Nationalism
What happens when the central goal of politics becomes preserving national identity?
October 22, 2024