Non-fiction

US Army Joint Chiefs General William C. Westmoreland, 1972.

Support the Troops… and Support Me Support the Troops… and Support Me

A new history of the military welfare state shows how politicians and military leaders have draped themselves in yellow ribbons to advance their own careers.

Dec 17, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Martha Saxton

December 16, 1901: Margaret Mead Is Born

December 16, 1901: Margaret Mead Is Born December 16, 1901: Margaret Mead Is Born

“The Samoan girl leads a busy, unconscious existence in which impulse and duty appear to play pleasantly correlative roles.”

Dec 16, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

December 15, 2011: Christopher Hitchens Dies

December 15, 2011: Christopher Hitchens Dies December 15, 2011: Christopher Hitchens Dies

“Posterity is unlikely to deal kindly with his willingness to be a singer in the camp of George W. Bush.”

Dec 15, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

John G. Roberts (left), Chief Justice and chief critic of the Voting Rights Act.

Voting Rights and the Second Redemption Voting Rights and the Second Redemption

Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot argues that democratic rights can never be taken for granted.

Dec 3, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Eric Foner

November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On the Origin of Species’

November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On the Origin of Species’ November 24, 1859: Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On the Origin of Species’

“Mr. Charles Darwin is probably the man who has done most to make the nineteenth century famous, full as it has been of wonders.”

Nov 24, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

November 15, 1959: The Clutter Family Is Murdered in Holcomb, Kansas, Later the Subject of Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’

November 15, 1959: The Clutter Family Is Murdered in Holcomb, Kansas, Later the Subject of Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ November 15, 1959: The Clutter Family Is Murdered in Holcomb, Kansas, Later the Subject of Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’

“It turns out that what we are really witnessing is a kind of morality play: the conversion of Truman Capote.”

Nov 15, 2015 / Richard Kreitner

Why Does Ta-Nehisi Coates Say Less Than He Knows?

Why Does Ta-Nehisi Coates Say Less Than He Knows? Why Does Ta-Nehisi Coates Say Less Than He Knows?

The journalist’s best-selling memoir offers eloquent testimony to the vulnerability of black life, but it surrenders too much to despair.

Nov 15, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Jesse McCarthy

Mandate boundary lines in the Pacific islands, 1921.

Imperialism With an Internationalist Face Imperialism With an Internationalist Face

In her masterful new study of the League of Nations, Susan Pedersen shows how the organization helped prolong the era of colonialism.

Oct 29, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Martti Koskenniemi

Self as Sovereign

Self as Sovereign Self as Sovereign

Where do we get the notion of mind as separate from body?

Oct 22, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Emily Wilson

2015 Nobel Prize in Literature winner Svetlana Alexievich.

Nobel Prize Laureate Svetlana Alexievich’s Oral Histories Are Chronicles of the Future Nobel Prize Laureate Svetlana Alexievich’s Oral Histories Are Chronicles of the Future

In her cantos of loss readers feel a sense of communion, of a shared humanity in the face of horror.

Oct 9, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Meier

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