What Desert Cities Can Teach Us about Water
Pushed by necessity, the country’s least sustainable region evolved to master its water use. As climate heats up, other cities may adopt similar tactics.
The Patron Saint of Bookstores
100 years ago, Sylvia Beach, the first publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses, opened the doors to her legendary bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.
How the Ban on Medical Advertising Hurt Women Doctors
Intended to protect consumers from unscrupulous quackery, a nineteenth-century ban on medical advertising proved to be a double-edged sword.
The Question of Race in Beowulf
J.R.R. Tolkien’s seminal scholarship on Beowulf centers a white male gaze. Toni Morrison focused on Grendel and his mother as raced and marginal figures.
Sigmund Freud’s The Ego and the Id
Freud died 80 years ago this week. In this "Virtual Roundtable," three scholars debate the legacy of his 1923 text.
Naomi Klein: We Are Sleepwalking toward Apocalypse
Klein talks about her new book, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, and the youth movement for climate action.
Can Sustainable Travel in the Amazon Help Reduce Forest Fires?
A rainforest evangelist hopes that Brazil’s 55-million year old jungle can survive 21st century human impact.
On the History of the Artificial Womb
Will outside-the-womb gestation, increasingly viable for animal embryos, lead to a feminist utopia? Or to something like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World?
Google Is Old Enough to Drink
Since its first birthday, in 1999, the celebrated technology company has defined how we allocate our attention.