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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Parallel Lives
King George and George Washington, featured in an upcoming exhibit.
by
Julie Miller
via
Library of Congress Blog
on
February 6, 2025
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: The Original Substacker
Publishing needs his democratic spirit.
by
Sam Kahn
via
UnHerd
on
December 13, 2024
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
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
The Amazing, Disappearing Johnny Carson
Carson pioneered a new style of late-night hosting—relaxed, improvisatory, risk-averse, and inscrutable.
by
Isaac Butler
via
The New Yorker
on
November 6, 2024
Unwavering
You can argue over whether Jimmy Carter was America’s greatest president, but he was undoubtedly one of the greatest Americans to ever become president.
by
Jim Barger Jr.
via
The Bitter Southerner
on
October 1, 2024
How a Mid-Century Paramour Became a Democratic Power Broker
Churchill weaponized her powers of seduction—but Pamela Harriman came into her own when she brought her glamour to Washington.
by
Margaret Talbot
via
The New Yorker
on
September 16, 2024
What If Ronald Reagan’s Presidency Never Really Ended?
Anti-Trump Republicans revere Ronald Reagan as Trump’s opposite—yet in critical ways Reagan may have been his forerunner.
by
Daniel Immerwahr
via
The New Yorker
on
September 9, 2024
Riding With Mr. Washington
How my great-grandfather invented himself at the end of Reconstruction.
by
David Nicholson
via
The American Scholar
on
August 22, 2024
When Emily Dickinson Mailed It In
The supposed recluse constantly sent letters to friends, family, and lovers. What do they show us?
by
Kamran Javadizadeh
via
The New Yorker
on
August 21, 2024
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