Readings

(A deeply, defiantly unscientific field study.)

From "the worst fucking song" Frank Sinatra ever heard to the upsetting eroticism of Rob Thomas, a comprehensive cataloging of all 55 award-winners since 1959.

The wreckage of last year's Ebola outbreak remains, and for the first time in 2015, cases have risen in three African nations. The crisis is far from over, so why don't we care anymore?

Jokey complaints can make a wronged person more likable, and in turn, easier to support—provided their good humour doesn't undermine the seriousness of the problem.

The author of Amnesia on shifting narratives, the early days of the Internet, and the CIA's nefarious history in Australia.

The Oysters of Locmariaquer, published half a century ago, feels like a precursor to the work of Eula Biss and Leslie Jamison—minus the modern worry over the possible harm of such storytelling.

If the central political questions of our time are inescapably personal, how can we dismiss arguments for being "too emotional"?

Our books, movies, and television shows are arguably bleaker than ever. What's behind the encroaching, thickening darkness?

In Andrew O'Hagan's The Illuminations, a woman struggles watching her mother enter the early stages of dementia. But can a different reality be a better place to live?