“The Odd, the Queer, the Strange, the Exotic, the Monstrous”: Christopher Benfey on Lafcadio Hearn

“Ancient and Modern Both”: Painter David Ligare Draws Inspiration from John Steinbeck and Robinson Jeffers

Dreaming in Didion: Alissa Wilkinson on Hollywood, Politics, and Joan Didion

“Dissent, Compromise, and Lead”: Historian David Waldstreicher on the Singular Public Life of John Quincy Adams

“Dreaming Up the Entire Universe”: Juan Felipe Herrera on the Craft and Cosmology of the Poem

“A Continuum between Past, Present, and Future”: andré m. carrington on the Modern Flourishing of Afrofuturist Fiction

“Fearless Frankness, Ultimate Secrets”: Classicist Sarah Ruden on the Mythic Journey of Sylvia Plath

“Living Well, Writing Well”: Poet Ron Padgett on the Centennial of His Friend and Mentor Kenneth Koch

The Mind and Heart of Margaret Fuller: Three Editors on Assembling the Definitive Edition of a Singular American Voice

“That Moment in Life When You Stand”: An Excerpt from John Wharton Lowe’s Authorized Biography of Ernest J. Gaines

The Tapestry of War and Memory: Elizabeth D. Samet on World War II Memoirs: The European Theater

“Outrageous Errors and Goofs”: David Mikics on the Loony Legacy of MAD

“Jim Crow Was a Cash Grab”: Tyina L. Steptoe on the Harrowing History of the American Color Line

Eyeball and Over-Soul: Biographer James Marcus on the Infinitude of Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You Want to Possess the Words”: Jay Parini on Why We Can’t Stop Reading Robert Frost

“Away from the Crowd”: Dan Barry on the Iconoclastic Genius of Jimmy Breslin