Handy with a metaphor.
The Moral Order of Perry Mason’s Universe
When it premiered on CBS in 1957, Perry Mason represented the birth of the television courtroom procedural. For decades, Mason, a criminal defense attorney who almost always emerged from the court victorious, was America’s most loved lawyer. The character has been cited in more than 250 judicial opinions. When Huey P. Newton was charged with murder in 1968, a Black Panther lieutenant reportedly asked a potential attorney, “Are you as good as Perry Mason?”
Perry Mason is in the DNA of nearly e...
The American Road Trip: What Makes a Person Patriotic?
We drove from Milwaukee, Wis., to Kansas City, Mo., stopping along the way to talk to people about civic duty, national pride and the symbols often used as stand-ins for Americanness.
How Civil Must America Be?
Americans care about being nice. How do we disagree with our neighbors about guns?
'The Monkey is OK!': How 'Law & Order: SVU' Tackled Animal Rights
An oral history of the show's legendary episode about animal trafficking.
Letter of Recommendation: The Rothko Chapel
A quiet place for experiencing the grief of solitude.
Bonfire of the Inanities
So gay! So girly! The history of the Styles section of the New York ‘Times’—and the real New Journalism.
Percy Ross Wants to Give You Money!
He was was a self-made, blue-collar millionaire in Reagan’s America. But when Percy Ross decided to give away his fortune, he made things simple: all you had to do was ask for it.
Together With the Kuklapolitans
In the middle of the past century, a gentle crew of puppets united the TV watchers of America.
The Announcements Were Once Déclassé. Then Came the Astors
It was the marriage of a Schermerhorn to an Astor that changed everything.
The Miracle of Hair on The People v. O.J. Simpson: Brow Toupees, Bad Beard Trims, and ‘the World’s Tiniest Wig’
Everything you didn't even know you wanted to know.
“Love,” “Family,” and Other Homonyms: A Conversation with Briallen Hopper
An interview with Briallen Hopper, the author of “Hard to Love: Essays and Confessions” (Bloomsbury, 2019)