New Yorker staff writer and journalism professor Lemann, author of a previous title on the SAT (The Big Test), contributes to Princeton’s “Our Compelling Interests” series by addressing the problem of access to higher education. With some selective colleges and universities reinstating the standardized SAT as an admissions criterion (after dropping the requirement during the […]
Over the course of only a few weeks, a toxic algal bloom has spread from the Pensacola, Florida, coast to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s bright red and caused by microorganisms called dinoflagellates, and it’s killing sea creatures and producing life-threatening anaphylactic reactions in humans. In the midst of this environmental disaster, 25-year-old Diane Nelson, an […]
The Sender sisters, Molly and Clara, are surprisingly successful 18-year-old co-managers of a revived Yiddish theater on Second Avenue in Manhattan. That’s because they’re also more than a century old; Molly and Clara are Estries, undead women from Ashkenazi lore who turn into blood-drinking monsters and can fly around on owls’ wings. They’ve done a […]
In order for Luna Gold and Aoife Walsh to date, Luna must lift the Veil for Aoife, allowing her to perceive the existence of magic. Luna, a fat Black lesbian witch, must also cast a memory spell that will cause Aoife, a biracial (white and Black) bisexual mundane, to forget about her if the two […]
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to […]
Nina, who was introduced in the first book as a new addition to Ellie’s friend group, hasn’t gelled equally with all the pals and is stirring up drama. The venue where Ellie’s friend Charlie wanted to hold her bat mitzvah party closed, so she may not get to celebrate after the religious service. This leads […]
This second visit to the Dogtown animal shelter brings back some familiar furry faces while introducing a new narrative perspective—that of one of the mice residing in the building’s rafters. Mouse enjoys lounging in the basement with the “unadoptable” pups, among them Buster, a “bounceback,” who has been adopted several times but then been returned […]
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 was, as Brown explains here, “almost certainly the most lethal piece of legislation to ever clear Congress.” In reversing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowing slavery to expand into vast new western territories, the act deepened divisions between North and South and pushed the country toward civil war. This […]
Bernadette Crowley’s family are an esteemed Missoula, Montana, clan of Irish American witches led by powerful and spirited Grandma Orla. But their specialty—using blood for summoning demons—has become more complicated since 13-year-old Ber’s diabetes diagnosis. Because she must prick her finger to check her glucose levels, she’s begun summoning by accident. Big sister Maeve cooks […]
Sama opens with a scenario worthy of a Matt Damon hero: threatened with blackmail by an unnamed bad guy, he connects with two ex-Mossad agents in downtown London who deliver the news that “there is a conspiracy to remove you from your job” and demand a cool million bucks to make it go away. Go […]