Book Review

Down Underworld

The brilliant foreignness of Australian crime fiction

Mare’s Nest

The Custodian

I Gave My Ears to Rock and Roll

Wearing earplugs could have saved the author’s hearing, but at the cost of his soul.

Meme Weaver

The author tries—and fails—to cash in on a big idea.

Bitter Crossing

A new history vividly describes the agony and uncertainty of the overland journey by America's pioneers

The Submission

A Muslim in control of the 9/11 memorial was the worst thing that could happen—and exactly the rudder Sean needed.

Valley of the Trolls

It's the rare star who can withstand the predatory cameras of TMZ on TV

Cover to Cover

How A&P created the supermarket; what if Princess Di had faked her death?; and more

Man Without a Country

V. S. Naipaul and the artistic rewards of statelessness

Chollywood

Behind the scenes of China's booming film industry

God’s Engineer

As celebrity architects create increasingly fantastical cityscapes, it's worth remembering why Gaudí remains unmatched

The Expression of Emotion in Man and Insects

Pelicans in December

The Last Copy

As soon as his book was published, Antonio realized that the pure vision of him that only she harbored would be shattered— and that he would do anything to keep her from reading it.

Little Sister

Marla had felt she’d never really had a sister, that she’d been visited by some strange goblin or ghost. But then she went into Daddy’s bank vault after he died.

Vigil

The old Bohemian hadn’t come to disturb the family on Holy Night, only to deliver an enormous, misshapen gift.

How to Win an Unwinnable War

His parents were separating, but all Sam could think about was preparing for nuclear holocaust.

Scars

"I don’t want any more surgeries. I just want a little art to help, to make it look a little less deformed. You know?”

The Great Zero

All this—the dust, the tarantulas, the deaths—had not come naturally. “We’ve used the land wrong,” I once heard a farmer say while I spied on my father and his Communist friends.

Don’t Write What You Know

Why fiction’s narrative and emotional integrity will always transcend the literal truth

Someone I’d Like You to Meet

Veblen’s first desire had been to spring the news of her engagement on her mother. Nothing with her mother was ever simple and straightforward— and that was the thrill of it.

L’amour, CA

Isa couldn’t wait to leave the Philippines. But when we pull into an American town of foggy streets and gray, concrete houses, she looks confused, then panicked.

Blue Snow

Do I Repeat Myself?

The problem of the "already said"

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

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A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

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Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

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The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

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Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Writers

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