“An American train can’t help but dream of the West”

What can we learn about Leo Tolstoy by reading the German sociologist Max Weber? Let Jeremy Klemin from 3:AM Magazine explain. While we’re on Tolstoy, here’s a complementary piece that asks the age old question–who’s better: Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky?

The Feminine Mystique turns fifty this month, and to mark the anniversary, Noah Berlatsky wonders how Agnes Grey, an Anne Bronte novel,  illustrates and critiques the arguments made in the book.

A high school music teacher is trying his damnedest to establish an official state song for New Jersey, which is apparently the only state in America without its own anthem. If you’re curious, here’s a list of the 49 other states and their official, state-sanctioned musical accompaniments.

“We can finally all agree that women want to have sex. But does that mean we experience desire in the same way that men do?” At The Atlantic, Claire Dederer discusses why it can be hard for women to write about sex. Pair with: Our own essay about writing sex scenes in literary fiction.