Memoir & Essay

"The older one grows, the more one likes indecency." — Virginia Woolf

“We Are Always Revising Our Stories — and Ourselves”: A Conversation with Maya Shanbhag Lang
A new memoir about the challenges of caring for a mother suffering from dementia.
Kavita DasJun 21, 2020
- Memoir & Essay
One Voice in a Great Chorus: An Interview with Rebecca Solnit
Meredith Maran talks to writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit about erasure, voicelessness, and her memoir “Recollections of My Nonexistence.”
Meredith MaranJun 15, 2020
- Gender & Sexuality
- Memoir & Essay
Two Decades of Futility: On Erik Edstrom’s “Un-American: A Soldier’s Reckoning of Our Longest War”
A soldier’s journey through Afghanistan reveals dismal truths about the United States.
Sally McGraneJun 14, 2020
- Memoir & Essay
- Politics
Finding the Right Tools: On Donovan Hohn’s “The Inner Coast”
Gregory McNamee reviews Donovan Hohn’s set of discursive essays about the environment.
Gregory McNameeJun 14, 2020
- Memoir & Essay
Declassified: An Interview with Jessica Pearce Rotondi
Meredith Maran talks to writer Jessica Pearce Rotondi about unresolved grief, hidden political histories, and her debut book, “What We Inherit.”
Meredith MaranJun 12, 2020
A Voice from America’s Black Belt: On Bakari Sellers’s “My Vanishing Country”
A moving memoir from an insightful commentator on race and politics in America.
Carla BellJun 10, 2020
- Memoir & Essay
- Politics
The Fun of Serious Noticing: On James Wood’s Latest Collection
Angela M Giles reviews "Serious Noticing: Selected Essays, 1997–2019" by James Wood.
Angela M GilesJun 5, 2020
- Literary Criticism
- Memoir & Essay
The Stories We Tell About Disability: A Conversation with Amanda Leduc
What fairy tales have to tell us about disability, social power, and agency.
Sara Black McCullochJun 3, 2020
- Memoir & Essay
- SF
What Do They Know of English, Who Only English Know? On Gaston Dorren’s “Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages” and “Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages”
Colin Marshall explores the allure of polyglotism and the perils of linguistic hegemony through “Lingo” and “Babel” by Gaston Dorren.
Colin MarshallJun 3, 2020
The News They Wanted Not to Hear: On Robert Stone
Three new books offer an embarrassment of riches for fans of Robert Stone.
Rob LathamJun 2, 2020
When Israel Was Socialist
A memoir from Rachel Biale raises unanswered questions about Israel.
Charles DunstMay 30, 2020
Slow Apocalypse
John Hay reviews Mark O’Connell’s “Notes from an Apocalypse.”
John HayMay 20, 2020