Montage
Must-Read Harvard Books Winter 2025
From aphorisms to art heists to democracy’s necessary conditions
Chapter & Verse
Suzanne Ekman hopes someone can identify a source for the following line, possibly from a Mark Van Doren poem: “…but where were...
Chapter & Verse
Marcia Chellis requests a source for “Everything is high school.” Barbara Murray would like to verify an anecdote involving...
Stirred, Shaken, and Sung
At the end of Pink Martini’s Carnegie Hall debut this past June, a conga line broke out in the audience and bounced its way up and down...
Off the Shelf
The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, translated by Norman R. Shapiro ’51, Ph.D. ’58 (University of Illinois, $80 cloth, $25...
Sophomores, Sex, Soap
Lisa Nestles into the folds of Adam’s grey fleece jacket, her hand entwined in his. The two lovers share a park bench and an uncertain...
Venerable, Valuable Volumes
With its muted hues and pine floorboards, the store resembles a medieval library with a blinking Apple iMac on the counter. Inventory at James...
Chairman of the Bored
Improbable as it may seem, James D. Watson—the co-discoverer (with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA—has written a Book of...
"Poems Are Not Position Papers"
Porter University Professor Helen Vendler grew up with her mother’s poetry books, which “stopped with the Victorians.” It was...
The Presidents We Pick
James MacGregor Burns, Ph.D. ’47, Woodrow Wilson professor of government emeritus at Williams College, a distinguished scholar, gifted...
Unnerved by the Urge to Win
Paul Hoffman ’78 was a child chess prodigy and now, after a 25-year break from tournament chess, he has started playing again. He has...