Lapham’s Quarterly
@laphamsquarterly.bsky.social
A magazine of history and ideas. Our latest issue is Energy.
“A Rothko painting conveys so much consciousness. That’s the importance of art—helping to ferry us from one island of consciousness to another.” —Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan on Consciousness
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with folklorist, classicist, and historian of ancient science Adrienne Mayor about her new book, MYTHOPEDIA: A BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF NATURAL HISTORY LORE.
Adrienne Mayor on Geomyths
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with journalist and essayist Robert Moor, author of IN TREES: AN EXPLORATION, a follow-up and companion to Moor’s bestselling debut, On Trails, published in 2016.
Robert Moor on Trees
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with essayist and critic Morgan Meis, author of a trilogy of books about the history of art, civilization, war, and much else.
Morgan Meis on Three Painters (Rubens, Marc, Mitchell)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, author of THE HIDDEN GLOBE: HOW WEALTH HACKS THE WORLD.
Atossa Araxia Abrahamian on the Offshore World
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with James Romm, historian and classicist, about his new book, PLATO AND THE TYRANT: THE FALL OF GREECE'S GREATEST DYNASTY AND THE MAKING OF A PHILOSOPHIC MASTERPIECE.
Episode 22: James Romm on Plato and Tyranny
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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"What has happened to human attention over the last century is exactly what has happened to the prairielands of America: a monoculture." —The Friends of Attention
Blessing the Sow | The Friends of Attention
On the varieties of attentive experience.
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“The Cold War laboratory research identified something real about humans: that we can focus on a stimulus on a screen. But it is hardly an adequate account of what it is to be a human person,” says D. Graham Burnett in this week’s episode of The World in Time.
Episode 21: The Friends of Attention
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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Read an end-of-the-year letter from acting editor Donovan Hohn. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...
The Haven Ahead | Donovan Hohn
A letter from the acting editor.
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Charles King on baroque music’s glorious revolution. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/f...
“The Famous Mr. Hendel” | Charles King
Baroque music’s glorious revolution.
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Save on back issues through the end of 2025. Forty percent off everything in our web store right now. ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/AAF/app...
This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Charles King about his latest book, “Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 20: Charles King on Handel's “Messiah”
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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Jeremy Eichler on Benjamin Britten and the angels of history. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/r...
The Ruined Cathedral | Jeremy Eichler
On Benjamin Britten and the angels of history.
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Jeremy Eichler, author of “Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 19: Jeremy Eichler on Time’s Echo
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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Sometime in the late 1580s, Christopher Marlowe came upon a book that jolted him. Entitled “The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus,” it was an English translation, done by someone who signed himself “P.F. Gent.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...
This Is Hell, Nor Am I Out of It | Stephen Greenblatt
On Christopher Marlowe’s Faustian bargains.
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Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe’s Faustian bargains. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...
This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Stephen Greenblatt about “Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 18: Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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In which @alexanderchee.bsky.social and @calebcrain.bsky.social propose that Moby Dick, dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne, might be read as “a love letter.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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“‘It’s awful,’ the historian said. ‘All true,’ I said.” A collage essay from @hernyfreebland.bsky.social, published by @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social.
The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland
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Aaron Sachs, author of Up from the Depths, speaks with Donovan Hohn about chapter 72 of Moby Dick for @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social’s The World in Time podcast:
Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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In an extended, 3-part installment of our intermittent series on Moby Dick and the history of the sea, this podcast considers the novel’s love story—the story of Queequeg and Ishmael’s friendship and marriage—as well as the novel’s dedication to Hawthorne. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
laphamsquarterly.org
In which I reminisce with @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social about my long career of queering Melville . . .
Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
laphamsquarterly.org
I spoke to Donovan Hohn of @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social for their Moby Dick podcast. We talked about Chapter 4, my Queequeg and Ishmael fanfic (Quishmael for my fellow old Tumblr heads) and Melville’s unrequited love for Nathaniel Hawthorne. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)
The latest episode of The World in Time.
laphamsquarterly.org
“That’s the trouble with dreams of power. It stimulates anxiety about a catastrophe that has yet to happen. ” @hernyfreebland.bsky.social in a collage essay which was published by @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social.
The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland
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“One of the poignancies of Darrow’s life is that it was hard for him to feel better. He wanted people to feel better. There was so much cruelty in the world. I wonder if, in his heart of hearts, Bryan also couldn’t stand that meaninglessness.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 16: Brenda Wineapple on the Scopes Trial
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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Brenda Wineapple on the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/t...
The Trial of the Century | Brenda Wineapple
On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes
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This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Brenda Wineapple, longtime member of the Lapham’s Quarterly editorial board. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...
Episode 16: Brenda Wineapple on the Scopes Trial
The latest episode of The World in Time.
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The collage essay I put together for @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social out of Lewis Lapham’s sentences is excerpted in the new issue of @harpers.bsky.social. Feels fittingly full circle: I sourced many of the sentences from his Harper’s columns, and LQ is effectively Readings through history.
The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland
harpers.org
