Questions of body image, sexuality, family, and racial identity are raised in Jessica Mehta’s novel "You Look Something". When Julia moves from a small community college to a university in Portland, she immerses herself in every... Read More

Soviet Jews faced anti-Zionist actions within the USSR; under pressure from human rights campaigns, they were finally offered opportunities for emigration, though leaving was risky. Poignant and suspenseful, Emil Draitser’s "Farewell,... Read More

As science advances in its understanding of the universe, scientists must periodically let go of long-held preconceptions and replace them with new facts. Take our limited understanding of consciousness. Science doesn’t have a clue... Read More

The journalist Alex Tizon had a goal: to bring to visibility those “who existed outside the mainstream’s field of vision.” He felt that everyone had a story, and he wanted to help people tell it. That’s exactly what "Invisible... Read More

Dan Hooper’s "At the Edge of Time" charts what is understood, and what remains a mystery, about the Big Bang—that moment 13.7 billion years ago of inconceivably high temperatures, fast expansion, and particles and forces like gravity... Read More

For all the legitimate criticism of men in general—from misogyny to housework-shirking, sexual harassment to racism-driven populist rage—the twenty-first century sure seems to be a perplexing time for the males of our species.... Read More

Addiction is a disease. Let’s never categorize addictive behavior—abusing alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, pornography—as anything other than heartbreaking. Furthermore, with discipline and self-sufficiency so celebrated in the US,... Read More

The short, potent essays of Margaret Renkl’s Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss are objects as worthy of marvel and study as the birds and other creatures they observe. Linked stories concentrate on Renkl’s family,... Read More