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BiographyAugust 13, 2019
The Contradictions of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
The Supreme Court justice may have been heralded by many of his progressive peers, but the legacy he left behind is far more ambiguous.
Brenda Wineapple
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January 31, 2018
How the Spanish-American War Helped Lay the Groundwork for American Empire
Stephen Kinzer’s new history captures how the United States has long been a country guided by both imperialist and isolationist instincts.
Brenda Wineapple
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April 18, 2017
What America’s 19th-Century Reformers and Radicals Missed
A new book on the antebellum period captures the dangers of confusing self-improvement with institutional change.
Brenda Wineapple
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BiographyMarch 6, 2013
Jellyfish or Fossil? On Louis Agassiz
Frustrated, stubborn, committed to bad science, was Louis Agassiz anything other than a laughingstock?
Brenda Wineapple
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CultureAugust 30, 2011
Moral Portents: On Adam Goodheart
Capes, torches, secret meetings! Adam Goodheart’s 1861 tells the story of the unyielding idealism awakened by the Civil War.
Brenda Wineapple
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CultureFebruary 10, 2011
Crooked Sticks: On Utopianism
At the utopian community of Fruitlands, vegetables were not only eaten. They were also imitated.
Brenda Wineapple
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BiographyMarch 18, 2010
A Wise Unknowingness
"There is such a thing as a moral atmosphere." So said Violet Gibson, the woman who shot Mussolini.
Brenda Wineapple
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HistoryMarch 11, 2009
Sallow, Queer, Sagacious: Lincoln Through the Ages
A new anthology of essays captures the many faces of Lincoln over the decades.
Brenda Wineapple
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BiographyJuly 1, 2008
The James Gang
In Henry James and his family, biographers find a fascinating story of dynastic melodrama.
Brenda Wineapple
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BiographyMay 10, 2007
The Wharton School
A new biography describes how Edith Wharton transformed her obsessions into stories of loss, regret and entrapment.
Brenda Wineapple