Stephanie Coontz, a leading historian on marriage, argues in her new book For Better and Worse: The Complicated Past and Challenging Future of Marriage that […]
A Palimpsest of Ambition: How Umberto Eco’s ‘The Name of the Rose’ Film Stumbles But Endures
In 1986, director Jean-Jacques Annaud embarked on adapting Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose—a book that had already become a literary sensation after selling […]
Deadbeat Crank James Fishback Loses Florida GOP Primary by Over 23 Percentage Points
James Fishback, the candidate who placed third in Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary, has been widely criticized for his campaign tactics and controversial statements. With nearly […]
The Silent Architects: How Literary Agents Shape American Fiction
Professor Laura B. McGrath’s Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction exposes the vital yet understated role literary agents play in American literature. […]
A Mother’s “Alternate Universe”: How Losing a Child Rewrites Reality
There exists a term to describe the transformation women undergo when becoming mothers—matrescence—which characterizes how their bodies and minds adapt to nurturing a child. Yet […]
Why ‘Stand By Me’ (1986) Is Still America’s Most Timeless Film on Childhood
Among the many gifts of the 1980s was an abundance of coming-of-age dramas and comedies. Today, the genre has nearly disappeared from theaters, but the […]
Two Dynasties Collide: The Kennedys and Windsors’ Unlikely Entanglements
There’s a mini-vogue in publishing now not so much for group biographies (how very 2019!) but for histories that take two apparently contrasted dynasties or […]
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Failed—And AI Governance Is Already Broken
A nonproliferation treaty didn’t stop the spread of nukes. It won’t rein in AI either. The biggest supporters and critics of artificial intelligence seem to […]
Anne Hathaway’s ‘The End of Oak Street’: A Larry Tate-Style Nostalgia Bomb
The new film “The End of Oak Street,” starring Anne Hathaway, has been described as a masterful exercise in nostalgic chaos. Inspired by the advertising […]
Woody Allen’s ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’ (1986): The Family Film That Defied Expectations
I did not grow up in a large family—I count among my relations one sibling and a handful of cousins—and certainly not in a blended […]