We are each the product of a long line of decisions made by previous generations. Nationality, careers, spouses, children—for better or worse, all aspects of our lives have been influenced by the paths taken by our ancestors. Bobby... Read More

Ordinary lives have intrinsic value, not only to their owners, but also to those who may read the memoirs that sprout from stories about family, friends, work, travel, and health issues. Mountain Ash is the story of Elna Fone Nugent,... Read More

Families come in all shapes and sizes. Society no longer insists on the traditional, two-parent model, but often luck still favors those families with more than one adult. Ambrose has a slight disadvantage: his dad died before Ambrose... Read More

We often take our geography for granted, even when traveling. We look where the guidebook points and stick close to the hotels and clearly marked trails. But the line of a river, the cleft of a hill, pale lines of quartz running through... Read More

People are afraid of disease. Though we live in a time of modern medicine and our arsenal of weapons is much improved over that of generations past, we still panic when diseases like the H1N1 virus spread rapidly over the globe. Imagine... Read More

Judging from recent economic history, charity won’t soon be rendered obsolete. Too many people who’ve made the United States their home suffer from hunger, disease, loneliness, or neglect. Some are lucky enough to cross paths with... Read More

Americans are well aware of lawyers and their many roles. Even those who don’t have personal experience with the law can turn to the countless courtroom dramas and legal thrillers—both real and imagined—on television and at the... Read More

The roaring twenties might shine with some glamour from the vantage point of 2009, but certainly temporal distance has laid a false gloss over that tumultuous, dangerous period of time. John C. Williams explores the dark underside of a... Read More