It’s 1965 and Churchill, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, is near death. As the nation, and much of the world, prepares to mourn him, some nefarious elements see an opportunity: The funeral will certainly attract powerful figures from all over the world, and it creates a fine opportunity for chaos—or so goes […]
Aiming to get readers thinking like architects and imbued with the fundamental principle that form follows function, Donnelly tallies basic requirements for a collection of buildings that Cho incorporates into a series of compelling and absorbing cutaway views. A school, for instance, should ideally have both learning and office spaces with easy access between floors, […]
Opening and closing with scenes from a gig as a 33-year-old burlesque dancer, Campbell shows off her experience as a stand-up comic with a quip-laden narrative in which she chronicles both her youth as a picky eater from childhood through college and a yearslong, riotously contentious, on-again, off-again relationship with a sometimes pushy, sometimes disturbingly […]
One year after a gas leak killed financial director Lisa Dozier and six other employees of Marstan Industries, and one day after Jeff Wheeler, who’d planned to ask Lisa to marry him, publicly accused Marstan head Stanley Franklin of deliberately arranging the leak himself in order to kill his underlings, Franklin is obligingly found shot […]
When it first became popular, Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was often associated with minimalism, as she instructed de-clutterers to keep only things that “spark joy.” At the same time, her guidance to thank objects for their service was a point of puzzlement: Do material goods and personal surroundings really matter? In Kondo’s […]
Journalist and commentator Freedland, author of The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz To Warn the World, writes that Adolf Hitler enjoyed overwhelming support from everyday Germans soon after he took office—and nearly to the end. He drew their backing with his declaration that supposedly depraved foreigners working with perfidious fellow citizens […]
Half a century ago, a young Ugandan, expelled from the country for being of Asian origin and a refugee in England, refused to be relocated from London to a distant camp, saying, “We protest at being treated as objects or, at best, as cattle.” This affords development economist Easterly a starting point addressing the question […]
Tussling with the unknown always comes with inescapable risks, but men generally only find madness and heartache when they start looking for meaning in an impossible universe. Gentler than Melville but less redemptive than Coelho’s magnum opus, The Alchemist (1993), this unpredictable adventure novel offers a heady reflection on science, faith, and the necessity of […]
“Prides are usually made up of lionesses, their cubs, and one to a few adult male lions,” the titular lioness explains. The savannah can be a dangerous place, and living together means “safety in numbers.” Our narrator is pregnant and knows her “babies need food to grow.” She dispatches prey with strength and skills she […]
Navya’s aunt—whom she calls Athai—and cousin Shruti have come all the way from India to celebrate Navarathri. Athai suggests that Navya sing the song that Athai taught her last month. Navya demurs, saying that she’ll sing next time. On the nights that follow, Navya visits friends’ houses and listens to other girls and women sing […]