A Gentleman in Moscow

Presumably, the bells of the Church of the Ascension had been reclaimed by the Bolsheviks for the manufacture of artillery, thus returning them to the realm from whence they came. Though for all the Count knew, the cannons that had been salvaged from Napoleon’s retreat to make the Ascension’s bells had been forged by the […]

Version Control

…history lives in the gap between the information and the truth. And each of us has no choice but to determine our own history, for ourselves. —Dexter Palmer

Homegoing

As Sonny passed the projects that filled the distance between his apartment and Willie’s, he tried to remember the last time he’d really spoken to his mother. It was 1964, during the riots, and she had asked him to meet her in front of her church so that she could lend him some money. “I […]

The Invention of Wings

“How can you ask us to go back to our parlors?” I said, rising to my feet. “To turn our backs on ourselves and on our own sex? We don’t wish the movement to split, of course we don’t—it saddens me to think of it—but we can do little for the slave as long as […]

What is the What

The government burned the villages to punish them for supporting the rebels. It’s very easy to kill a town, yes? Harder to kill an army. —Dave Eggers

FTFY, Internet

As anyone who’s stood within earshot of me for more than 45 seconds can tell you, I tend to be supremely annoyed by “when I was your age” anecdotes about how much things used to cost, particularly when people use nominal dollars instead of real dollars. Since I’ve seen half a dozen instances of this stupid […]

30 for 30 Shorts: The Anti-Mascot

Our latest film, directed by Colin Hanks, tells the story of how a bad team and an even worse idea were an ugly combination in San Francisco. Source: 30 for 30 Shorts: The Anti-Mascot «

Bring Up the Bodies

You can be merry with the king, you can share a joke with him. But as Thomas More used to say, it’s like sporting with a tamed lion. You tousle its mane and pull its ears, but all the time you’re thinking, those claws, those claws, those claws. —Hilary Mantel

Stoner

In his forty-third year William Stoner learned what others, much younger, had learned before him: that the person one loves at first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another. —John Williams