Some Favorites
On the North Atlantic right whale and what humans owe nature, for The New York Times
On the joys of inefficiency and whimsy, for The New York Times
Cover story on American exceptionalism and counter-exceptionalism, for The New Republic
On reading about remote islands — and being on one through a pandemic, for Meetinghouse
On the hollowness of Anglophone autofiction, for MEL
On the slow death of the New England Republicans, for The Atlantic
On the bigotry of Donald Trump, for The Atlantic
On the aesthetics of political violence, for The New Republic
On the history of the electoral college, for The Atlantic
On soil liquefaction and the collapse of Thonis-Heracleion, for The Atlantic
Read More
Longform and Print
“What Nantucket Owes the Whale,” The New York Times (December 22, 2024)
“Make America Good Again,” The New Republic (April 2022 Issue)
“Longshore Drift,” Meetinghouse (Issue 2)
“An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry,” The Atlantic (June 2019 Issue)
“Year of the Bell,” Nantucket Today
Elections and Politicians
“The Iowa Caucus Was a Media Debacle, Too,” The New Republic
“The Woman Who Could Beat Boris Johnson,” The New Republic
“The Last Liberal Republicans Hang On,” The Atlantic
“The Republican Leadership Member Most Likely to Lose,” The Atlantic
“Oregon’s Hard Road for a Moderate Republican,” The Atlantic
“The 53rd Republican Senator?” The American Prospect
“West Virginia’s One Progressive Party,” The American Prospect
Policy and Reform
“The Push to Remove Any Mention of Slavery From Vermont’s Constitution,” The Atlantic
“The Electoral College Conundrum,” The Atlantic
“There’s a Better Way to Elect House Members,” The Atlantic
“The People v. the U.S. Senate,” The Atlantic
“Why is There a Budget Crisis in Connecticut?” The American Prospect
“Schools more diverse, crowded than ever,” The Inquirer and Mirror
Culture and Arts
“Down With Efficiency (When We Get Around To It),” The New York Times
“Billy Wilder Longs For American Kitsch,”The Los Angeles Review of Books
“The Sad Young Writers Writing Sad Young Writers,” MEL
“The Fall and Rise of the Guillotine,” The New Republic
“The Crown’s Case for the Monarchy,” The New Republic
“Philip Pullman’s Unorthodox Liberalism,” The American Scholar
“How Game of Thrones Lost Its Way as a Political Drama,” The Atlantic
“The Authoritarian Heroes of Game of Thrones,” The Atlantic
Science and Climate
“An Ancient City’s Demise Hints at a Hidden Risk of Sea-Level Rise,” The Atlantic (cross-posted at CityLab)
“The Gentle Giant’s Climate Problem,” The New York Observer