Memoir & Essay

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

Through a Gen-X Lens: A Conversation with Meghan Daum
A celebrated essayist takes on #MeToo, Twitter, and other millennial obsessions.
Otis HoustonJul 1, 2019
Blowing the Philosopher’s Fuses: Michel Foucault’s LSD Trip in the Valley of Death
James Penner takes a trip through “Foucault in California” by Simeon Wade, which chronicles the day when a great French philosopher blew his mind.
James PennerJun 17, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Philosophy & Religion
No Filters: On Kathleen Collins’s “Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary”
Trisha R. Thomas is inspired by “Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary,” the posthumous collection of Kathleen Collins’s writing edited by Nina Lorez Collins.
Trisha R. ThomasJun 13, 2019
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay
Cruising for Sex, Cruising the Political: Alex Espinoza’s “Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime”
Michael Nava reviews Alex Espinoza’s “Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime.”
Michael NavaJun 12, 2019
Writing About Binyavanga Wainaina
On the Kenyan author’s rich — and discomfiting — intellectual legacy.
Raksha VasudevanJun 11, 2019
Pay Attention: On Carolyn Forché’s “What You Have Heard Is True”
Helen Mackreath considers “What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance” by Carolyn Forché.
Helen MackreathJun 7, 2019
A Life in Airplane Mode: Pico Iyer’s “Autumn Light”
Madhav Khosla reviews an exquisite memoir of transience and loss.
Madhav KhoslaJun 6, 2019
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
Just a Girl and Her Sad Songs: Ani DiFranco’s Memoir
A feminism rock icon muses about her past and her music.
Sarah HaasMay 31, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
- Music
It Mattered That He Showed Up: On Pete Buttigieg’s “Shortest Way Home”
Harrison Hill looks at Pete Buttigieg’s memoir, “Shortest Way Home,” to explore how Buttigieg’s campaign depends on his squeaky clean image.
Harrison HillMay 28, 2019
Mayor Pete and the Millennial Paradox
Pete Buttigieg was a millennial who went home, but not because he needed to.
Peggy O’DonnellMay 28, 2019
A Family Habitat: On “The Deer Camp”
A memoir about restoring the land around the worn-out cabin of a restive family.
Douglas TrevorMay 24, 2019
- Memoir & Essay
The Perils and Pitfalls of the Lyrical Essay
On the aesthetic sophistry and philosophical banality of the lyrical essay.
GD DessMay 22, 2019
- Memoir & Essay