Alumni Essay
Joshua Mitchell, PhD’89, reflects on how students from Washington to Iraq differ in their understanding of Tocqueville’s “lonely man” in the democratic age.
Anne Ford, AM’99, questioned her own academic ability—then she started asking questions of others.
Into the fray over Hilary Mantel’s comments about Kate Middleton.
Greg Bellow, AB’66, AM’68, reclaims his acclaimed father, novelist Saul Bellow, X’39, from those who would adopt him as their own.
Wayne Scott, AB’86, AM’89, knows from painful experience that an A is not a scarlet letter around here—an F is.
Memories of professor Richard Stern from a student and friend.

What's in a keyword? Mark Athitakis, AB’95, turns a critical eye on how the Library of Congress and the New Yorker classify fiction.
Alex Lickerman, AB’88, MD’92, explains how to construct an indestructible self.
The pitfalls of writing, from a junior thesis to a Star Trek history.

During the Cultural Revolution in China, my father was declared a traitor, and my mother was imprisoned by the Red Guards and repeatedly coerced to divorce him.
Mike Michaels, X’61, explains how he was a fly on the wall in the creation of the greatest song in the history of rock and roll.