Articles of Note

In Vermeer's time, an artist had to be a chemist — weighing, grounding, burning, sifting, heating, cooling, filtering, all before applying a drop of paint... more »


New Books

A showdown with Pelé, a reconciliation with Edmund Wilson. Nabokov’s dream diary moves from the mundane (lost dentures) to the cosmic... more »


Essays & Opinions

Equality is a modern idea. Its detractors have included Plato and Aristotle; indeed, for most Western thinkers, humanity was marked by chasms of distinction... more »