Fallen Monuments, Then and Now
The USSR’s fallen monuments and failed reckoning offer lessons for our own near future.
The USSR’s fallen monuments and failed reckoning offer lessons for our own near future.
A rapidly evolving promise and manifesto. Actions to take and not take. Books to read and funds to allocate.
One morning in a previous era, when international trips and handshakes were still possible, a stranger and I joined forces to assist a traveler from afar.
How a fellow pastry lover shut down my mini-tantrum with one simple gesture
How the phrase “I mean well!” was ruined forever by our Uber driver’s flawless retort
Jerusalem, 1988: A sherut driver’s heroic act of honesty saved this young traveler from a ruined trip.
Highlights of my year of great crime reads. (The takeaway: Go get DISAPPEARING EARTH right now.)
Why do all these “little-known histories” of women leading outsized, daring lives in war and espionage slow to a trickle after Women’s History Month is over?
Annals of Memorable Meals: Angkor Beer, rice porridge, durian, and faith in a Kampong Thom town
Why telling a story in someone else’s voice is perhaps the biggest challenge of all—and the utmost (terrifying) privilege
When writing a profile, you’ll need to upend your assumptions and tour someone’s inner and outer life with radical openness.
Writing about other people’s lives is an exercise in trust, empathy, self-awareness and humility. We don’t always get it right, but it’s our job to keep trying.
That time a Kazakh human-rights attorney invited us to a lunch of Russian dumplings at a Kampot, Cambodia roadside stand