Calling out your political or ideological opponent or opposite has long been easy intellectually. If attacked, you can appeal to like-minded supporters. Calling out someone on your own political “team” or tribe—well, that’s a dicey proposition. Read more
Is American journalism facing, as a recent Atlantic story said, an “existential moment”? The news about the news might not be as unrelievedly bad as described. Read more
The chief theme of Netflix’s popular series “American Nightmare” is hardly groundbreaking. It was noted nearly eighty years ago by none other than George Orwell. Read more
Today marks what would be the 215th birthday of writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe. He is the rare writer whose Romantic and Gothic stories about death, subjectivity, rationality, and despair were so good I can remember where I was when I read them. Read more
Typewriters are like bicycles or stick shift cars. They command your full attention. Make a mistake and you pay the price. In a digital age, that’s more a blessing than a curse. Read more
The Times can take one of two paths: rededicate itself to its venerable creed or practice (progressive) opinion journalism honestly. Read more
By definition, popular histories ought to appeal to ordinary book buyers and -readers rather than specialists. And the best among them were not meant to comfort political activists, either. Now that has changed. Read more
I am a lover and a practitioner of interviewing people and mining archives. Yet two lesser-known forms of data gathering can be good supplements and even substitutes. Read more
The inaugural column is meant to be short versions of what magazine editors used to call “brights”—upbeat, inspiring, or humorous articles. Read more
Molly Ball’s biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explores the pride the San Francisco Democrat takes in her profession and achievements without reckoning with its downsides. Read more
