Holding a Gun
In the spring of 2017 I met Reginald Dwayne Betts. I began to read his poetry, his memoir of how he became a poet in prison,...
Sithens in a Net
from a poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt What we try to snag and hold fastof laughter, wood smoke, but especiallythe necessary ignorance to go forward, to...
The Reactionary Court
To the Editors: Jed S. Rakoff’s fine review of Brad Snyder’s biography of Felix Frankfurter [NYR, November 3] is incorrect in one detail: the turn to...
The Real Christie Mystery
To the Editors: I am loath to argue with Lucy Worsley, whose work on television is very appealing, but have trouble believing that Agatha Christie was...
The Silence of Pius XII: An Exchange
To the Editors: Unfortunately, my new book The Pope and the Holocaust received a review in your pages [NYR, October 20] that rather reflects the bias...
The Real Housewives of 16th-Century Scotland
In Glasgow, Scotland, in 1574, two women landed in legal trouble for a wild public fight: Janet Dunlop threw dirt in Margaret Martin’s window where Margaret...
7 Books by Women Writers About Humanity’s Relationship to Trees
Trees are a significant part of our cultural discourse, and humans have long had a personal connection to trees. From the centuries-old Cedars of Lebanon to...
Can You Guess Which Word is Missing From Each Manga Title?
Let me preface this post by saying that I like reading manga, and it’s a format that includes a wide variety of genres, tones, art styles,...
Indie Bookstores You Can Shop At From Anywhere
With the pandemic having such a drastically negative affect on small businesses, the book world held its breath and waited to see how this would affect...
