All Chapter & Verse
Why I read a poem a dayReading at least one poem a day has been like an intellectual vitamin, giving me a small dose of literature even on busy days when I can’t get to the novels and nonfiction on my nightstand.
How the 1976 GOP convention set Reagan on the path to powerThe future president lost to Gerald Ford in nail-biter but emerged wiser and stronger.
What Lee Smith can teach us about summer reading for kidsSmith read broadly and avidly as a child, and she seems to remember just about every book that she devoured.
My dad and his booksWhy books still matter – even (and maybe especially) in times of trial.
How Catherine the Great became an ‘Empress of Art’Historian Susan Jaques talks about the Russian monarch’s stunning legacy.
What will my kids read this summer? I'm pretending not to careAn unspoken rule of our annual start-of-summer literary field trip is that there will be no fatherly homilies on the 'Importance of Reading.'
How Smoke the donkey made an unlikely journey from Iraq to the USIn the midst of war, Smoke won hearts and earned himself a new job and a new home – thanks to a story by a Monitor correspondent.
Why I can't let go of my magazine subscriptionsYes, it's a nuisance when the stacks of yet-to-be-read magazines reach frightening altitudes. But sooner or later comes the day when I actually do read them.
Celebrate National Short Story Month with five of the best
Inside the heartbreak of the Kent State shootingsHistorian Howard Means, author of ‘67 Shots,’ explores the myths and realities of the 1970 Kent State shootings.
No room for the urban poor? 'Evicted' author Matthew Desmond explainsMatthew Desmond explores the intense hardship connected with evictions, which have now become a regular occurrence in American cities.
'Book Interrupted': the sometimes frustrating story of my reading lifeI’m not the sort who usually polishes off a book in a single sitting. Life cuts into my dance with the page, asking for a waltz of its own.
3 powerful literary takes on motherhoodOnly in the last 25 years has there been much to choose from in the way of literary takes on and by mothers.
Reading poetry: an obscure but exquisite kind of pleasureIn America, where few people read poetry anymore, a poet can be great but largely unknown.
Tired of presidential primaries? Blame Teddy Roosevelt!Theodore Roosevelt created today's more democratic primary system for his own personal gain, says historian Geoffrey Cowan, author of 'Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary.'
How did Lois Lane get so many enemies – and so many friends?In 'Investigating Lois Lane,' Canadian comics historian Tim Hanley history considers how Superman’s gal pal became an icon of her own.
Following in the frozen tracks of a beloved Icelandic detectiveIcelandic author Arnaldur Indridason talks about Erlendur Sveinsson, the fictional detective whose brooding style has earned him fans around the world.
Finding his mother, deep in the jungleDavid Good's memoir explores the difficult marriage of his father, a student of cultural anthropology, to his mother, a young Yanomami native.
5 surprising facts about Eugene V. Debs (aka, Bernie 1.0)Before Sanders, socialist Eugene V. Debs made bids for the top job.
A Southern tragedy: racism, redemption, and familyKaren Branan, author of 'The Family Tree,' found shocking connections to a 1912 mass lynching.
