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George Orwell’s timeless classic Animal Farm, a “fairy story” aimed at young readers, has sold some 11 million copies... Read More

Harold Bloom, the greatest literary critic of his age! Look on his works, ye Mighty, and despair: by the end of his long, super-contemplative... Read More

Of course I knew that Charles Dickens had what was arguably the most brutal and public marital separation in literary history. I can’t... Read More

"You told me if I loved literature, I shouldn’t go to grad school,” wrote a former student. The biochemistry-turned-English... Read More

If the woman in monogrammed Chanel acid-wash jeans standing on the Regal Times Square escalator had stayed to the right to let me walk past,... Read More

Can faith-aligned investors become known for what they are for in addition to what they are against? That was the question posed by Martin... Read More

Gojjam wipes a streak of vomit from the corner of his mouth and turns to his friend Zeleke. ‘I did your turn at the front today,’... Read More

Late last month, American booksellers hit a major milestone. Across the United States, 2,000 bookshops celebrated Independent Bookstore... Read More

Every eight months, someone publishes an essay announcing the rediscovery of Stoner. By now, John Williams’s 1965 novel about an... Read More

I’m an idiot who took French in high school, despite living in San Diego. I don’t recall much from the classes, but remember I... Read More

David Brooks recently described the skeptical attitude toward romantic relationships, particularly among younger Americans, as “the... Read More

Michael, the new biopic of “King of Pop” Michael Jackson, has gotten scathing reviews, which it deserves. Nevertheless,... Read More

One of the beneficiaries of Virginia’s aggressive attempt to gerrymander the state for Democratic advantage could be a former federal... Read More

It’s an amusing line in a bad movie: “We’re just following, we’re just following,” chant several sheep as they... Read More

Former Ambassador Alberto Fernandez from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI.org) discusses the cornucopia of Islamist content... Read More

WHAT DOES DIOGENES of Sinope have in common with Alexei Navalny and the unnamed man who stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square... Read More

I’m surprised that people are surprised when I say that I’m not neat. Something about me must suggest that I’m spruce.... Read More

In real life, you’re not supposed to look. You can’t be caught doing a double take at their sultry head tilts,... Read More

The bodies of male Olympic swimmers tend to differ from those of mere mortals in a few key areas. One: Large hands, which make it easier to... Read More

We’re not even halfway through 2026 yet, and it’s already been a banner year for new books. From sumptuous novels by Ben Lerner,... Read More

I knew marrying into a reality TV family would come with a learning curve. Cameras, schedules, and public attention: None of that surprised... Read More

This week I got involved in a Substack “discourse” about the state of working-class writing that was the result of... Read More

I now dread the supermarket. This, I assume, is a common feeling. There was a time, though, when I enjoyed it. On the cusp of adulthood, in... Read More

In a dramatic moment in the early 1990s, now famous among conservatives and libertarians, the author Ray Bradbury threw down the gauntlet... Read More

Lord of the Flies, William Golding‘s 1954 novel, is one of those properties that feels like it has constantly been adapted for the... Read More

Jürgen Habermas (1929–2026) dominated post-war European liberal philosophy. He dedicated his life to the rational foundation of a... Read More

Last week, Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, suspended her campaign for the Senate. Her exit paves the way for her more... Read More

Philosophers and commentators have recognized for millennia that rhetors (political speakers) and poets occupy a similar corner of society... Read More

In the late 1970s, I was a teenager in Winona, Minnesota, a sleepy Mississippi River town defibrillated by three colleges and a few residual... Read More

Marilyn Monroe read books. A lot of them. That’s the revelation of Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe,... Read More

Lord of the Flies looms so large in the canon of English-language allegory that it’s easy to forget the book is only... Read More

Last Thursday, I laced up my Timberlands and drove an hour west of San Antonio to join leaders of the MAHA movement, including skinny-jean... Read More