personality — Bunk History

William F. Buckley Jr. surrounded by piles of books in his office.

What Made William F. Buckley So Unusual

The author of a new biography talks about the conservative journalist’s life and legacy.

by Sam Tanenhaus, Cullen Murphy via The Atlantic on June 1, 2025

Magnifying glass on top of the book "The Mask of Sanity" by Hervey Cleckley.

The Man Who Invented the “Psychopath”

Hervey Cleckley wanted to treat the most overlooked psychiatric patients. Instead his work was used to demonize them.

by Camille Bromley via The New Republic on November 7, 2024

Painting of Emily Dickinson writing at a desk outside.

Eternity Only Will Answer

Funny, convivial, chatty—a new edition of Emily Dickinson's letters upends the myth of her reclusive genius.

by Maya C. Popa via Poetry Foundation on April 8, 2024

A man stands before four doorways with cryptic letters on them.

Sorting the Self

The self has never been more securely an object of classification than it is today.

by Christopher Yates via The Hedgehog Review on March 3, 2024

Black and white photo of Sigmund Freud walking between a man in a suit and a woman in a dress and fur coat

President Wilson on the Couch

What happened when a diplomat teamed up with Sigmund Freud to analyse the president?

by Nick Haslam via Inside Story on May 16, 2023

Collage of two photos of Marilyn Monroe.

Who Was the Real Marilyn Monroe?

"Blonde," a heavily fictionalized film by Andrew Dominik, explores the star's life and legend in a narrative that's equal parts glamorous and disturbing.

by Grant Wong via Smithsonian on September 26, 2022

An Eight-Second Film of 1915 New Orleans and the Mystery of Louis Armstrong’s Happiness

How could Armstrong, born indisputably black at the height of Jim Crow and raised poor, be so happy?

by Gwen Thompkins via The New Yorker on July 8, 2019

The Cautionary Patriotism of the Presidents Adams

Father and son alike, suspicious of too much charisma.

by Nancy Isenberg, Andrew Burstein via Literary Hub on April 18, 2019

Robert Frost.

Belief is Better

Robert Frost’s correspondence on teaching, writing and having fun.

by David Bromwich via The Times Literary Supplement on July 7, 2017

Ted Kaczynski being led by two law enforcement officers.

Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber

Purposely brutalizing psychological experiments may have confirmed Theodore Kaczynski’s still-forming belief in the evil of science while he was in college.

by Alston Chase via The Atlantic on June 1, 2000

Joe Biden as a new Senator, sitting next to framed photographs of his family

Death and the All-American Boy

Joe Biden was a lot more careful around the press after this 1974 profile.

by Kitty Kelley via Washingtonian on June 1, 1974

A collage of men with different hairstyles.

Bad Curls, Bad Character

The charged meaning of hair in 19th-century America.

by Sarah Gold McBride via Literary Hub on June 9, 2025

David Souter

Justice David Souter Was the Antithesis of the Present

His jurisprudence has been overshadowed by that of his showier colleagues but was a model of principled restraint.

by Jeannie Suk Gersen via The New Yorker on May 15, 2025

Mark Twain

The Impossible Contradictions of Mark Twain

Populist and patrician, hustler and moralist, salesman and satirist, he embodied the tensions within his America, and ours.

by Lauren Michele Jackson via The New Yorker on April 28, 2025

“I Am Making the World My Confessor”: Mary MacLane, the Wild Woman from Butte

In 1902, a woman named Mary MacLane from Butte, Montana, became an international sensation after publishing a scandalous journal at the age of 19.

by Hunter Dukes via The Public Domain Review on April 23, 2025

Photo of William F. Buckley Jr.

The Pen Is Mightier

Eight ways to understand the literary-political impact of William F. Buckley Jr.

by Steven Hayward via Political Questions on April 15, 2025

Edgar Watson Howe

The Sins and Sayings of E.W. Howe

A deeply skeptical, deeply American mind and its trail of sharp, clean sentences.

by Steve Szilagyi via 3 Quarks Daily on April 11, 2025

Donald Trump and Roy Cohn at a press conference.

Donald Trump’s Long Con

Trump’s “Art of” trilogy may be full of willful exaggeration, but the books also reveal how the 1980s and 90s formed his dog-eat-dog worldview.

by John Ganz via The Nation on April 7, 2025

Leonard Bernstein practices with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1967.

How Leonard Bernstein Changed the Canon

In 1966, the conductor arrived in Vienna with a mission: to restore Gustav Mahler’s place in 20th-century music.

by David Denby via The Atlantic on April 1, 2025

William and Henry James.

William and Henry James

Examining the tumultuous bond between the two brothers.

by Peter Brooks via The Paris Review on April 1, 2025

Graydon Carter sitting next to stacks of ornate, empty chairs.

Vanity Fair’s Heyday

I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what?

by Bryan Burrough via The Yale Review on March 14, 2025

Sam Peckinpah looks into a film camera.

The Noble Savagery of Sam Peckinpah

“Bloody Sam” was born one hundred years ago this month.

by Christopher Sandford via Modern Age on February 19, 2025

Trump and Reagan depicted as two halves of the same face.

The Dark Legacy of Reaganism

Conservatives might be tempted to hold up Reagan as representative of a nobler era. They’d be wrong.

by Kim Phillips-Fein via The New Republic on February 19, 2025

Actor Maurice Chevalier signing his MGM contract

In the Lions’ Studio

A new dual biography turns the lens on the towering architects of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

by Noah Isenberg via The American Scholar on February 13, 2025

Forget Lincoln or Reagan—Trump's Political Idol is a Mobbed-Up Brooklyn Boss

Donald Trump’s model of political leadership? The cigar-chomping, baseball-bat swinging Meade Esposito.

by John Ganz via Air Mail on February 8, 2025

Drawings of King George III and George Washington.

Parallel Lives

King George and George Washington, featured in an upcoming exhibit.

by Julie Miller via Library of Congress Blog on February 6, 2025

A drawing of a slave revolt on a ship.

Rare Portraits Reveal the Humanity of the Slaves Who Revolted on the Amistad

William H. Townsend drew the rebels as they stood trial, leaving behind an invaluable record.

by Kate McMahon via The Conversation on February 3, 2025

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman: The Original Substacker

Publishing needs his democratic spirit.

by Sam Kahn via UnHerd on December 13, 2024

Still from "The Apprentice."

The Power Broker: Roy Cohn on Screen

The closeted right-wing operative has become a tragic character in the American repertory.

by Mark Asch via Mubi on December 5, 2024

Donald Trump standing behind a podium at a campaign event with his family at his side.

It’s the Charisma, Stupid

It’s not whom you’d want to get a beer with, but whom you’d want to watch getting a beer.

by Mark Oppenheimer via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on November 6, 2024

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