William Blake’s poetic directive to “see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower” encapsulates the message of Kimberly Ridley’s "Wild Design". Here, the natural structures of mineral crystals, bird nests,... Read More

Set in the world of Moby-Dick, whose whaling towns were brutal, Jane Yolen’s novel "Arch of Bone" is about grief, coming-of-age, and survival. Josiah, the fourteen-year-old son of Pequod‘s first mate, longs to follow his father to... Read More

In Gioia Diliberto’s fascinating historical novel "Coco at the Ritz", Coco Chanel, the French couture icon, becomes enmeshed with Nazi occupiers. In 1944, Chanel, who was in her early sixties, was interrogated. She was suspected of... Read More

While false claims of voter fraud have become common in recent years, the 2018 congressional midterm for North Carolina’s Ninth District featured the rare case of actual fraud, with illegal ballots from rural Bladen County causing the... Read More

For the four years of its existence and in the months following it, Donald Trump’s presidential administration provided myriad examples of breaking American law and general norms of government. As Allan Lichtman demonstrates in his... Read More

In Stephanie Gangi’s elegiac, absorbing novel "Carry the Dog", a woman reevaluates her photographer mother’s exploitative opus. At fifty-nine, Bea is pained by revived interest in the Marx Nudes, her mother Miriam’s 1960s series.... Read More

Becca Piastrelli’s insightful spiritual text includes advice for living a satisfying life by connecting to one’s land, lineage, community, and self. Each of the book’s four sections begins with a philosophical discussion of the... Read More

Shelly Tygielski’s "Sit Down to Rise Up" shows how mindfulness builds transformative communities. In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Tygielski began combating her isolation with community. Her book on doing the same is... Read More