Plate does a thorough job connecting objects, senses, and faiths in every chapter. The religious world is full of sacred objects and rituals. How and why do we give special... Read More

Lauren Slater’s obsessive­-compulsive disorder manifests in various ways in this collection of essays—she counts by increments of three to keep the moon in orbit and planes... Read More

A double biography about two young women coming of age during the turbulent Revolutionary War, neither of whom knew each other, might have presented a disjointed and confusing... Read More

The recent memories of many Americans are seared with images of a devastated, storm-and-flood-ravaged, and desperately savage New Orleans. In the wake of these unforgettable... Read More

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came... Read More

"She Looks Just Like You", Amie Klempnauer Miller’s memoir detailing the birth and early years of her daughter, Hannah, contains many expected travails from a new mother’s... Read More

The late Howard Zinn was one of the few public intellectuals of our time. His fame is largely owed to his historical analysis and political theory. But Zinn was also a... Read More

“Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history,” wrote Plato. This collection goes to the heart of vital human truth, exposes the raw ventricles there, and sends that heart... Read More

This poet contemplates the natural world with deep and soulful attention, and then, with simple words sparely arranged, verbalizes the relationship between Earth and the human... Read More

The author had resided on Cape Cod for years in admiration of the famous nature writer John Hay, who lived up the hill from him. Despite Gessner’s previous... Read More

With the name Sarah Thorson, a girl must be a fair-skinned, blue-eyed blonde Lutheran who loves lutefisk herring. Or so the young protagonist of this delicate novel once... Read More

On the heels of a difficult break-up, political activist and “hippie girl” Raday is set up on a blind date by her cousin George with a big-city policeman and former soldier,... Read More