If there’s anything that unites all Americans, it is our love of cold beverages. We love our drinks cold. Ice cold.
Kansas City at the center of the American experience
This essay first ran a year ago, when the Kansas City Chiefs won the 2023 Super Bowl. In honor of the team’s second victory in a row earlier this month, we invite you to re-read it now. The Kansas City […]
A paper manifesto
It is time to go back to paper!
The Art of Living: Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition
The Art of Living is an occasional series about people who seemed to know something about living.
REVIEW: The Crack-Up of the American Evangelical Church?
A historian finds herself nodding along with Tim Alberta’s hopeful vision for American evangelicalism
The trouble with biopics
The trouble with biopics is, they’re just not very good.
The art of living: Richard Feynman
The Art of Living is an occasional series about people who seemed to know something about living.
High productivity and hard comparisons
Our culture tends to venerate productivity and accomplishment. But we can get so caught up in celebrating productivity that we can forget about the products and byproducts.
Not all college presidents are keepers
When there are so many other scandals, some much worse, I am personally begging you: do not use up your ire on Claudine Gay.
Going Infinite, part II. Caring is hard
The challenges of caring for and about others are not unique to socially awkward crypto-kings.
Going Infinite, Part I. Infinity in a grain of sand or an absent expression
We all have places we want to go without knowing how to get there. We think it best if we can find someone to follow.
Useful fiction, practical literature?
War and literature weren’t only paired in the past, they co-exist in the present and may even be presently collaborating for the future.
American dogs
Our tastes in dog breeds have followed a trend of rising sophistication in certain respects.
The art of living: Tivadar Soros
This is the first in what I hope will be an occasional series about people who seemed to know something about living.
Too heavy to fly
What if some of the “things” keeping us from soaring on the wings of passion to near perfection are just actual things? What if stuff is what weighs us down?
What I’m reading: Anything I can find by A. “Toby” Rawlinson
The great man theory of history isn’t very good, but there have been some great men and women in history.
REVIEW: Suckers for Ideals
McKinsey & Company’s influence is hidden—and so is its catalog of harm
What I’m reading: John McPhee
I read Oranges because I am a Florida resident. And I’m not just a snowbird, who is here for part of the year. I’m a 12-month sunbird. So, I figured I should probably learn something about oranges.
Friends and Relations, Part II
There are times when our desire for moral clarity can lead to us being complicit, or worse, in events far from our ken.
Friends and relations, part I
When it comes to our international friends and relations, it’s not always clear to everyone who they might be or should be.