Essay The City Waiting for Goffman By Michael Dirda There are few better interpreters of modern metropolitan life than sociologist Erving Goffman. More
Essay Book of Nature Funhouse Goddess By D. Graham Burnett It has never been easy to decipher what nature is trying to tell us, but that hasn’t stopped us from filling in the blanks. A look at the sexual politics of natural law theories. More
Essay Trade Timeless Life in the Grand Bazaar By Suzy Hansen The rise and fall of Turkey’s grand marketplace. More
Essay Magic Shows Very Superstitious By Colin Dickey The science of sympathetic magic, and why it persists. More
Essay Crimes & Punishments Murder in Black & White By Nathaniel Rich A history of film noir, America’s cinematic take on life on the bottom. More
Essay The Future The Next Future By John Crowley Any prediction about what is to come runs the risk of being more about the present than the future. More
Essay Animals One of Us By John Jeremiah Sullivan Can animals think or feel, experience joy or sadness? Can they know their own existence? More