Christopher Benfey

2 months ago | nybooks.com | Christopher Benfey

Unpublished at thirty-one except for a couple of poems printed anonymously in the local newspaper, Emily Dickinson did what aspiring poets do. She selected four of her favorite poems and mailed them to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, an essayist and minor poet who had published an article full of advice for young writers in the April 1862 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.

Dec 23, 2024 | nybooks.com | Christopher Benfey

1. A freewheeling spirit runs through the history of Leverett, Massachusetts, which celebrated its 250th anniversary this year. Named for a colonial governor who advocated for religious tolerance and political autonomy, Leverett, with a population of roughly two thousand, maintains a reputation for nonconformism. Visitors are drawn to its hilltop New England Peace Pagoda and to its beautiful pond, actually a ninety-acre lake.

Nov 10, 2024 | almendron.com | Bridget Read |Christopher Benfey |Jon Allsop |Quinn Slobodian

Rozina Ali“Why would you place your faith in somebody who instituted a so-called Muslim Ban?” President Barack Obama asked at a campaign rally in Wisconsin earlier this month. In the weeks running up to the elections, that question was repeatedly posed to Muslim and Arab American leaders who had publicly stated they would not endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Nov 9, 2024 | nybooks.com | Jon Allsop |Bridget Read |Quinn Slobodian |Christopher Benfey

Rozina Ali •  Christopher Benfey •  Quinn Slobodian •  Walter M. Shaub Jr. •  Bridget Read •  Jon Allsop“Why would you place your faith in somebody who instituted a so-called Muslim Ban?” President Barack Obama asked at a campaign rally in Wisconsin earlier this month. In the weeks running up to the elections, that question was repeatedly posed to Muslim and Arab American leaders who had publicly stated they would not endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Jul 25, 2024 | nybooks.com | Christopher Benfey

In literature as in life, significant birthdays are occasions for both celebration and reassessment. Herman Melville’s two hundredth birthday happened to just precede the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The house arrest of so many readers for an indeterminate period resulted in many social changes, among them the sudden proliferation of book groups meeting on Zoom.