William E. Leuchtenburg, a historian whose books cemented the place of Franklin D. Roosevelt among the greatest American presidents, died on Tuesday at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 102. His death was confirmed by Miguel La Serna, chairman of the history department at the University of North … Read more
Barry Michael Cooper, who was one of the first journalists to explore the crack epidemic of the 1980s before turning to Hollywood, where he made his mark with screenplays for gritty films like “New Jack City,” died on Jan. 21 in Baltimore. He was 66. His death, in a hospital, … Read more
The author and lawyer Scott Turow has never forgotten a harrowing conversation he had long ago with the mother of a young man charged with murder. Turow had successfully defended him in an earlier, less grave case, but this time he was clearly guilty. It was a tragedy on many … Read more
In Han Kang’s latest novel, a character saws off the tips of two of her fingers in a woodworking accident. Surgeons reattach them but the treatment is gruesome and agonizing. Every three minutes, for weeks on end, a caregiver carefully, dispassionately sinks needles deep into the sutures on each finger, … Read more
For a long time, Curtis Yarvin, a 51-year-old computer engineer, has written online about political theory in relative obscurity. His ideas were pretty extreme: that institutions at the heart of American intellectual life, like the mainstream media and academia, have been overrun by progressive groupthink and need to be dissolved. … Read more
Jon Ingold finds most video game writing empty at best, turgid at worst. Ingold, an author of celebrated narrative-driven games including 80 Days and Heaven’s Vault, acknowledged that his writing tastes were “fussy” and was reluctant to single out studios. But he was comfortable calling the text-heavy Disco Elysium, one … Read more
Nathalie Dupree, a Southern cookbook author, television personality and culinary mentor whose personal life was sometimes as messy as her kitchen and whose keen interest in literature and politics gave birth to biscuit-fueled salons and a quixotic run for the U.S. Senate, died on Monday in Raleigh, N.C. She was … Read more
One morning, when she was about 7 years old, Neko Case stood on her front porch, closed her eyes and wished with all her might to see a horse. It was a tall order. She and her parents lived in the coastal city of Bellingham, Wash., and none of their … Read more
Howard Buten, a college dropout from Detroit, juggled three extraordinary lives. In one, he was a tender, clumsy and wordless red-nosed clown named Buffo. He sold out theaters around the world. Critics compared him to Charlie Chaplin and Harpo Marx. In another, he volunteered as an aide with autistic children, … Read more
When Nnedi Okorafor was 19, she woke up disoriented in a hospital room. Fluorescent pink and green grasshoppers and praying mantises bounced around her hospital bed, making strange clicks. An enormous crow threw itself against the window, trying to break in. Once she was no longer hallucinating from pain medication, … Read more
