The potato: Mash it, bake it, fry it … No matter how you slice it, the potato is the very manifestation of all that is ordinary. And yet the domesticated potato and all of its wild relatives have long ...

To tell a story is to place a frame around wayward events. The storyteller points to scenes unfolding within the frame and says, This is important. The implication is that what transpires beyond those ...

Claire Messud’s latest novel, “This Strange Eventful History,” has a compelling history of its own. It is based on the dramas and wanderings of her own French Algerian and Canadian family. And it ...

Linus O'Brien, the son of 'Rocky Horror' creator Richard O'Brien, assembles an impressive talking-head cast from the musical and film to discuss an unlikely 50-year trajectory. By Daniel Fienberg ...