Swan Song
On the disappearing great operatic diva.
Wes Phillips
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Real Life Superheroes
I love Tothian: He "doesn't wear a mask because it blocks his peripheral vision, and says he doesn't wear a cape 'because capes get in the way of actually doing real superhero stuff.'"
Let Us Now Praise Editors
Me, I'm lucky—I work with a great editor and an even better copy editor. It's win-win.
Living Photographs
Arthur Mole and John Thomas arranged thousands of soldiers, reservists, and nurses into various patriotic symbols and photographed them from above—a description which, while being accurate, doesn't prepare you for their work.
A Prehistory of the Atomic Age
There's a new biography of Leo Szilard, the physicist who proposed the Strangelovian "doomsday weapon."
On Farting: Language and Laughter In the Middle Ages
Who am I to critique somebody else's field of study?
Format Wars
Woulda, coulda, shoulda—some "superior" formats just didn't achieve dominance.
Why Do They Hate Us?
Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, was asked on a book tour, "So tell me, sir. Why do they hate us?" Having spent half his life in America, the Pakistani writer had to think about who "us" and "they" were. This fine essay is the result of that thinking.
Bagheera Discovers Fresh Catnip
"You can just buy this at the Coop—and you've never done it before? What were you thinking?"
Huckleberry Helps
Huck knows exactly what the enterprising freelancer needs: A feline muse, who alternately attacks the keyboard and scrutinizes the monitor.