Joseph Durham looking at an urn

The Care of the Dead: A Reading List

An interdisciplinary bibliography exploring the care of the dead and how our final choices are shaped by culture, religion, economics, technology, and war.
A painting of Homer by William Blake

“Tell Me about a Complicated Man”: A Homer Reading List

The amount of scholarship on Homer and his works can be daunting. We've created this introductory reading list to help guide your explorations.
Ramón y Cajal in Valencia, 1884-1887

Imag(in)ing the Brain

Nobel winner Santiago Ramón y Cajal preferred to draw his own renderings of neurons rather than avail himself of photomicrography's wonders.
Protestors from lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity Stonewall, carrying a banner reading 'Lesbian & Gay Rights are Human Rights' during the Gay Pride parade in London, England, United Kingdom, 6 July 1996

The Stonewall Riots Didn’t Start the Gay Rights Movement

Giving Stonewall too much credit misses the movement’s growing strength in the 1960s, sociologists note.
Hammock reader summer

Summer Reading in JSTOR

Stories by Meg Wolitzer, David Sedaris, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, E. Annie Proulx, Amy Tan, Donna Tartt, Lydia Millet, Lauren Groff, and more.
Hart Island

Burying NYC’s Forgotten Dead at Hart Island

A few miles off the coast of the Bronx is Hart Island, a potter's field where New York City's poor and unclaimed dead are buried.
Kazuo Ishiguro

An Artist of the Floating World: Two Interviews with Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro, an English novelist, won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. His work deals with topics like national identity, memory, and trauma.
Jean Stein

The Literary Life of Jean Stein

Among her other literary accomplishments, Jean Stein edited Grand Street for 14 years. Here are two of her interviews for the magazine.
Guignol poster

Stage Death: From Offstage to in Your Face

Death on stage has a long, gory history. From Ancient Greece to 19th century Paris to The Walking Dead. Why does theatre like death so much?

Bearing Witness to the Art of Chris Burden

Artist Chris Burden died last week. Here, we remember his iconic, sculptural monuments and artistic legacy.