Essay Embracing Addiction February 20, 2026 What if we didn鈥檛 shame others and ourselves for our dependencies? And, instead of trying to banish it, might we embrace addiction as a binding force, profoundly worthy of our devotion? Read More
Interview Steven Weitzman on Disasters of Biblical Proportions February 10, 2026 Steven Weitzman explores how people of later ages鈥攁rtists, writers, activists, philosophers, believers and unbelievers alike鈥攈ave reshaped the story of the ten plagues to give expression to their own trauma, outrage, guilt, humor, and hope. Read More
Interview Virginia Dignum on The AI Paradox February 09, 2026 Drawing on her decades of experience in AI research and governance, Virginia Dignum cuts through the hype and sensationalism that often surround AI and reveals why the most profound questions it raises are not about technology but ourselves. Read More
Essay Carrying the Olympic flame February 06, 2026 My application to carry the Olympic torch in my adopted home of Sicily had been accepted. Along with 10,000 others from every walk of life鈥攆rom famous celebrities to those who battle crippling disease鈥擨 would be part of the team that transports the flame from its origin in Ancient Olympia to the Games. I knew it would be a wonderful experience, but the strongest impression it left on me is not one that I expected. Read More
Interview Melissa Burch on The Criminal Record Complex February 04, 2026 The Criminal Record Complex chronicles the daily interactions of hiring managers, workforce development professionals, and job-seekers with felony convictions in Southern California, and Melissa Burch shows that this discrimination is not simply a matter of employer bias. Read More
Essay How I let go of gentrification February 03, 2026 While scholars argue over how to define and measure gentrification, the word has found a new home for itself. A broad range of people deploy the term, many of whom are less concerned with parsing its meaning than scholars like me. Read More
Essay Dreaming under fascism January 27, 2026 Did ordinary Germans realise they were living through a historical nightmare? Would we recognise the same signs if we were living through them today? Read More
Interview Hrvoje Tkal膷i膰 on When Worlds Quake January 27, 2026 When Worlds Quake by Hrvoje Tkal膷i膰 is a fascinating account of how scientists around the globe seek to use quakes to answer tantalizing questions about the structure and inner dynamics of our planet and to discover the deepest secrets of our nearest neighbors in the solar system. Read More
Interview Mustafa Aksakal on The War That Made the Middle East January 22, 2026 A sweeping narrative of war, great power politics, and ordinary people caught up in the devastation, Mustafa Aksakal's The War That Made the Middle East offers new insights about the Great War and its profound and lasting consequences. Read More
Essay Children as projects January 22, 2026 Contemporary parenting is far from permissive chaos and more relentless effort: careful scheduling, constant supervision, and pouring our souls鈥攁s well as loads of money鈥攊nto our children. Read More
Essay On the page January 21, 2026 鈥淭his is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of poetry: to descend, to fall, to break, to know that in writing and reading we become one again.鈥� Read More
Essay Squirrels: Nature鈥檚 ultimate ambassadors January 20, 2026 At the edge of every woodland, backyard, and city park, a small, twitchy-nosed guide ushers us into our most common encounter with the wild. The squirrel lives where we live, moving easily between tree canopy and sidewalk, wilderness, and civilization. Long before we can name ecosystems or understand food webs, squirrels introduce us to the idea that we share our world with other lives. Read More
Essay When shaming backfires January 16, 2026 When someone behaves badly, a natural and understandable reaction is to shame them. But what if the problem being addressed is actually fuelled by shame? Read More
Interview Hanna Pickard on What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine? January 09, 2026 What would you do alone in a cage with nothing but cocaine? Drawing on her expertise as an academic philosopher and her clinical work in a therapeutic community, Hanna Pickard explores the meaning of drugs for people with addiction and the diverse factors that keep them using despite the costs. Read More
Essay Thinking from the far south January 02, 2026 How do we see the world whole? We can start by looking at it through the lenses that southern writers and storytellers offer us. Read More
