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How Jack Benny and Harry Conn Stumbled onto the Formula for Situation Comedy
Jack Benny was a radio comedian with a big problem: He was running out of jokes.
By Kathryn Fuller-Seeley -
Clifton Fadiman Didn’t Mind Being Called Schoolmasterish
His Lifetime Reading Plan was an erudite booklist for everyman.
By Danny Heitman -
Thoreau Becomes a Professional Author and Finds His Greatest Subject Is Himself
It was at Walden Pond that Thoreau came into his own as a writer.
By Laura Dassow Walls -
Independence Day Special: How I Learned to Love Patriotic Poetry
From “Paul Revere’s Ride” to “Barbara Frietchie,” poems use some fiction to inspire love of country.
By Leah Weinryb Grohsgal -
Impertinent Questions with A. Roger Ekirch
A bloody mutiny, double identity, and a vicious presidential election.
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The Play Speaks to You: How a Translator Stays True to the Text and Connects with the Audience
The tragedy of Phèdre transcends its original verse.
By Steve Moyer -
When Television Was a Medical Device
Television was once the wave of the future in health care.
By Jeremy A. Greene -
What Did Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, and E. B. White Have in Common?
So many great American writers got their start in a children's periodical.
By Danny Heitman -
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Moldy Church Records in Latin America Document the Lives of Millions of Slaves
Now, intrepid scholars are saving those parish baptismal records from war, neglect, and rot.
By Paula Wasley
