Detailed and fantastical story and drawings of grave robber’s son’s research of congenital deformities. The nineteenth century is remembered in American culture as a time of optimism, expansion, and scientific advancement. But one... Read More

The 2012 primaries and presidential election, and the subsequent standoffs between Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress, have offered plenty of examples of US politicians exhibiting the worst characteristics of stereotypically... Read More

In the 1930s, General Electric and an architectural magazine sponsored “The House for Modern Living” contest, inviting architects to design a house for “Mr. and Mrs. Bliss,” an imaginary couple with two children. The organizers... Read More

There is a glut of books published on all aspects of film studies: critical analyses of directors’ oeuvres; in-depth explications of classic and contemporary films; film genre readers; and histories of cinema in scores of countries and... Read More

If a writer is talented (and lucky) enough in her publishing career, there will come a time when a compilation of short stories is published. Writers with long careers (twenty or more years of steady publication) may be able to publish... Read More

The Scottish writer James Kelman is known for producing challenging short stories and novels containing stream-of-consciousness narrative as thick as the brogue of his countrymen. In How Late It Was, How Late, winner of the 1994 Booker... Read More

“A single gift can easily tell the story of an entire life,” writes Elizabeth Benedict, editor of and contributor to the anthology "What My Mother Gave Me". In the book’s case, a single gift has the ability to tell the story of two... Read More

To sell her readers on vinaigrettes and dressings, Michele Jordan must first sell salad, and she does so with a poet’s flair: “From a few leaves of just-picked lettuces damp with an evening’s rain and a creamy frenzy of earthy... Read More