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Clockwise from top left: Abigail Adams, Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Four Famous American Women Who Were Also Prolific Letter Writers

In a long and storied tradition, these bold women recorded history—and shaped it—through their correspondence

Jesse Mockrin. The Descent, oil on linen, 7.5 by 25.8 feet, 2024.

A New Exhibit in Toronto Reexamines the Works of the Baroque Masters

In her monumental work inspired by the Rape of the Sabine Women, an artist reimagines a much-depicted story from antiquity

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Readers Respond to the July/August 2025 Issue

Your feedback on Cajun cooking, Hemingway’s Pamplona and good ol’ Charlie Brown

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America's 250th Anniversary

The Underappreciated True Story of the Brash Prussian Military Officer Who Whipped the Patriots Into Shape at Valley Forge

Most Americans think of George Washington’s winter encampment as brutal and deadly. But Friedrich von Steuben, an out-of-work military veteran from Europe, turned it into a fruitful training ground

A worker lowers a pump system into the water. The tube sucks in the berries and pulls them into a machine that separates the fruit from water, stems and debris. 

These Photos of Harvesting Cranberries Transform the Annual Ritual Into a Shimmering Spectacle

In eastern Massachusetts, flooded wetlands cover the landscape as farmers collect the crop that features on Thanksgiving tables nationwide

Dustin Partridge of the New York City Bird Alliance looks for migrating birds during the 2024 Tribute in Light in New York City.

The New Science of Aeroecology Reveals So Much About the Amazing Creatures That Populate the Skies and How Humans Can Ensure Their Survival

The sky above us is a complex ecosystem, just like the land and sea. A new field of research is bringing a fresh understanding of the birds, bugs and other species that live there

Left to right, American models Joanna McCormick, Janet Randy, Betsy Pickering and Gretchen Harris pose for Charm amid traffic on Park Avenue. 

The First Magazines Written for Career Women Reveal a Portrait of Immense Creativity and Hope

Publications including “Mademoiselle,” “Glamour” and the long-forgotten “Charm” first emerged in the 1930s to satisfy an emergent force in the workplace

Piles of marigold garlands at the 170-year-old Mullick Ghat flower market in Kolkata. The flowers are ubiquitous at Hindu religious rituals and festivals.

From Flower Markets and Colonial Forts to Shrines and Battlefields, Take a Journey Into the Heart of India

Traveling down a river in West Bengal reveals the enduring imprint of empire—and the soul of a region shaped by centuries of change

Lord Krishna—an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu—begs the antagonist, Duryodhana, not to launch a war. 

A Veteran Pixar Animator’s Newest Book Is an Epic Undertaking That Began 5,000 Years Ago

Sanjay Patel enjoyed success on YouTube with his colorful shorts and is about to release a richly illustrated book that tells the story of the longest poem in the world

Five-year-old Segi, rescued in 2021, learns how to climb at “jungle school,” run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

An Orangutan Sanctuary in Borneo Is Giving the Endangered Primates a Second Chance, Just When They Need It Most

The critically endangered species gets a helping hand from an Indonesian facility as the island’s human population is about to explode

Where did the Big Bang take place? Is it now at the center of the universe? 

Where Did the Big Bang Happen? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

In Cormac McCarthy’s living room, books jockey for space with a previously unpublished photo of the novelist, shot by his brother Dennis.

Two Years After Cormac McCarthy’s Death, Rare Access to His Personal Library Reveals the Man Behind the Myth

The famously reclusive novelist amassed a collection of thousands of books ranging in topics from philosophical treatises to advanced mathematics to the naked mole-rat

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Readers Respond to the June 2025 Issue

Your feedback on pioneering pilot Bessie Coleman, the joy of cave exploring and the bittersweet history of vanilla

Titled Nightview, New York, this silver gelatin print, shot in 1932, was part of a project undertaken by the photographer to document the rapidly modernizing city. 

See a Stunning Photo of New York City From Above in 1932

In her dazzling portraits of a metropolis on the rise, Berenice Abbott captured the city that never sleeps

James Baldwin in Kilyos, Turkey, in 1965

A New Biography Offers the Most Intimate Portrait Yet of One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Authors

Research into James Baldwin’s archives reveals incisive details about the writer’s personal relationships, both platonic and romantic, with other men

The patient looks through measuring goggles at a series of markers on a grid. 

Can a Medical Device Restore Your Balance?

Nearly two million people worldwide have lost the simple ability to feel steady. Now researchers have developed an experimental medical implant that promises to restore the sensory machinery responsible for balance

Clachtoll Broch, a Scottish dwelling with dry stone walls, was built at least 2,000 years ago. Its thatched roof was destroyed in a fire.

Why the Ancient Craft of Dry Stone Walling Still Holds So Much Appeal in the 21st Century

Artisans around the world are ditching the mortar and embracing an old method of building rock walls

 Cards from the Sola Busca, the earliest extant example of a complete 78-card tarot deck, made in Italy in the late 1400s.

The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves

The original meaning behind the cards, first created 500 years ago, still remains elusive. But that didn’t stop our reporter from traveling to Milan in an effort to find out

A young Ernest Hemingway on what would prove his most fruitful trip to Pamplona, in July 1925.

Go Behind the Scenes of the Running of the Bulls

An offbeat journey to the legendary Spanish festival 100 years after the life-changing trip that inspired Ernest Hemingway to write “The Sun Also Rises”

Caroline Finley, center, with Château Ognon (upper left) and colleagues in an album belonging to her great-nephew.  

With Their Bravery During World War I, These Daring American Women Doctors Proved Their Might to Folks Back Home

As their right to vote was debated in the States, a remarkable group of 74 physicians and support staff sailed to war-torn Europe to help those in need

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