Top of the Stack
Stone Free
“So much of making it is just having the guts to stand there till it happens. It’s a contest of wills. Because it’s not like anybody’s going, ‘Oh, I hope everything fabulous happens for you.’”
The Front Page
New American Pilgrim
Sarah Vowell found her calling in rejuvenating the quaint field of heritage tourism. Her trip to discover where Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley were shot, buried, and memorialized is a search for the meaning of America.
War of Remembrance
How the problems of one Philadelphia family created the False Memory Syndrome Foundation and triggered the most controversial debate in modern mental health.
Rex Reed Doesn’t Speak to Anyone
Pauline Kael Doesn’t Talk to John Simon. John Simon Doesn’t Talk to Judith Crist. Judith Crist Doesn’t Speak to Rex Reed … When Movie Critics Mattered.
The Ghosts of Ole Miss
On a gray winter’s day, the atmosphere electric for a game, one perceives how Ole Miss sports is the buttress to the local emotions. All universities should be in small towns.
Bruce Springsteen and the Secret World
“There’s not much people can count on today. People have been shown such disrespect. You want to show people that somehow, that somewhere, somebody can…I guess you just don’t want to let them down.”
Dent Island
“Come fall in love all over again.”
The Passions of Mario Cuomo
In Which the Governor Sends a Mickey Mouse Watch to Roy Cohn and Calls Ed Koch a Pelagian Heretic.
The Stacks Chat: Levi Stahl
Dig in to some Donald Westlake goodness.
In the Eye of the Storm a Year Later
There are significant moments in the life of a human when we need to act right or we spend the rest of our lives regretting it. A hurricane is a significant moment.
The Coolest Gift
“It’s the kind of quixotic book we need more of. I don’t want it to become extinct; I want it to stay in print as long as there are humans to appreciate it, so I vote for it.”
It’s Mostly the Voice
The Village Voice website is a trove of great stories.
Making It!
“You’ve got it made.” How the words sing a swift jazz poem of success, hi-fi, the best chicks (or guys), your name in lights, pot to burn, jets to L.A. and London, bread in the bank, baby, and a fortress built around your ego like a magic suit of armor!