Literature
Evildoer
The Beowolf monster is a thousand years old, but his bad old tricks continue to resonate in the modern world
April 2006 |
By Matthew Gurewitsch
The Worst Hard Time
The untold story of those who survived the great American Dust Bowl
March 2006 |
By Kathleen Burke
Every Book Its Reader
The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World, by Nicholas A. Basbanes
February 2006 |
By Reviewed by Kathleen Burke
Matisse and His Models
The author of a new biography of the artist argues that the women he painted were full partners in the creative enterprise
October 2005 |
By Hilary Spurling
World's Unlikeliest Bestseller
Fifty years ago a brewer's bet spawned a compelling compendium of feats, stunts and trivia
August 2005 |
By Bruce Watson
Building the Bomb
A new book about atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer charts the secret debate over deployment of the first A-bomb and the anxiety that suffused its first live test
August 2005 |
By Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
The Real Robinson Crusoe
He was a pirate, a hothead and a lout, but castaway Alexander Selkirkthe author's ancestor inspired one of the greatest yarns in literature
July 2005 |
By Bruce Selcraig
Rhyme or Cut Bait
When these fisher poets gather, nobody brags about the verse that got away
June 2005 |
By Sharon Boorstin
Fatal Triangle
How a dark tale of love, madness and murder in 18th-century London became a story for the ages
May 2005 |
By John Brewer
Conquering Polio
Fifty years ago, a scientific panel declared Jonas Salk's polio vaccine a smashing success. A new book takes readers behind the headlines
April 2005 |
By Jeffrey Kluger
Prescient and Accounted For
A century after his death, novelist Jules Verne, who imagined Moon flight and deep-sea voyages, looks more prophetic than ever
March 2005 |
By Doug Stewart
Plutarch's Exemplary Lives
An ancient Greek wrote the book on biography then and now
July 2004 |
By Lance Morrow
As Told at The Explorers Club
More Than Fifty Gripping Tales of Adventure
May 2004 |
By Owen Edwards
Photos for All Time
A new book, At First Sight, draws on all the Smithsonian's vast archives to chart photograph's profound place in history
April 2004 |
By Merry A. Foresta
Colossal Ode
Without Emma Lazarus' timeless poem, Lady Liberty would be just another statue
April 2004 |
By David Lehman
The epic of Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center symbolizes the heart of Manhattan
March 2004 |
By Owen Edwards
Riding the Steppes
A 1,000-mile odyssey across Mongolia on horseback
January 2004 |
By Smithsonian magazine
