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Essays

General Jackson's "Chancellorsville" Portrait, taken at a Spotsylvania County farm on April 26, 1863, seven days before his mortal wounding at the Battle of Chancellorsville

Stonewall Jackson’s Arm

By Randon Billings Noble

May 2, 2013

I was walking through a cornfield in search of a cemetery in the middle of Virginia. A fox trotted across the path in front of me and disappeared in the forest of stalks with barely a rustle. I was searching for Stonewall Jackson’s lost arm.

3 Comments

Writer Friends: The Rules of the Community

By Jennifer Niesslein

April 30, 2013

The following post is part of our online companion to our Spring 2013 issue on The Business of Literature. Click here for an overview of the issue. —— We met as fans, which is to say that we read each other’s writing and wished for [...]

8 Comments

Why Iceland

By Bill Hayes

April 26, 2013

  I’ve just returned from my third trip to Iceland in a year. When this comes up in conversation, I am inevitably and understandably asked why—what takes me there? It’s not business; yet vacation doesn’t seem the right word either. The [...]

5 Comments

The Importance of Strong Family Narratives

By Bethanne Patrick

April 9, 2013

I have a friend who is a professional archivist. Her master’s in library science has led her to a career she loves in helping clients (mostly corporate ones, but the occasional rich person, too) sort, categorize, and store their materials, which can vary from a few sheets of paper to thousands of books.

0 Comments

The Barnes & Noble Showroom: How Much Is It Worth?

By Kathleen Schmidt

March 29, 2013

Over the past few days, it has been widely reported that Barnes & Noble (B&N) has significantly reduced the number of Simon & Schuster titles it carries in its stores due to a financial dispute between the two companies. While the disag [...]

2 Comments

The Biggest Danger to Anyone’s Writing

By Bethanne Patrick

March 12, 2013

What I knew deep down and can articulate now is that the danger to anyone’s writing does not come from living in comfort, but from believing you might have nothing to say because you live in comfort. The danger to your writing comes from thinking you are trapped when in reality even the caged bird sings.

9 Comments

Why You Should Revisit the Classics From High School

By Kevin Smokler

March 1, 2013

I must have been a nightmare in high school English class. English was my favorite subject, and my friends and I talked about books with the same mania we hoarded quarters for the arcade and wolfed down mozzarella sticks at Denny’s. I even had En [...]

3 Comments

Oh Format, Where Art Thou?

By Kathleen Schmidt

February 26, 2013

A few years ago, when I was working for a major publishing house, I was sitting in a sales meeting to launch a new season of books when one of the National Accounts Managers (who sold that publisher’s books to Barnes & Noble) said of a partic [...]

3 Comments

Van Halen Made Me Do It

By J. C. Sullivan

February 21, 2013

The following post by JC Sullivan is part of our online companion to our Winter 2013 issue on Classic Hollywood. Click here for an overview of the issue. ——— I attended an East Coast college in the late 1980s, and upon graduation, [...]

1 Comment

In Defense of Los Angeles

By Allison Winn Scotch

February 19, 2013

  View to Downtown from Mount Hollywood / via Kansas Sebastian / Flickr   The following post by Allison Winn Scotch (@aswinn) is part of our online companion to our Winter 2013 issue on Classic Hollywood. Click here for an [...]

4 Comments

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