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Lapham’s Quarterly

@laphamsquarterly.bsky.social

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A magazine of history and ideas. Our latest issue is Energy.

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Pegasus Books @pegasus-books.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Gregory Smithers, author of the upcoming THE WATER CARRIERS: A Journey Through Cherokee History and the Secret Life of Rivers, has penned a beautiful piece for @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social on the history of Cherokee people along the Little Tennessee River. Check it out:

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A Revolution Around a Star Place | Gregory Smithers

1776 looked different from the Cherokee towns on the Little Tennessee River.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

“A Rothko painting conveys so much consciousness. That’s the importance of art—helping to ferry us from one island of consciousness to another.” —Michael Pollan

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Michael Pollan on Consciousness

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with folklorist, classicist, and historian of ancient science Adrienne Mayor about her new book, MYTHOPEDIA: A BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF NATURAL HISTORY LORE.

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Adrienne Mayor on Geomyths

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with journalist and essayist Robert Moor, author of IN TREES: AN EXPLORATION, a follow-up and companion to Moor’s bestselling debut, On Trails, published in 2016.

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Robert Moor on Trees

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with essayist and critic Morgan Meis, author of a trilogy of books about the history of art, civilization, war, and much else.

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Morgan Meis on Three Painters (Rubens, Marc, Mitchell)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, author of THE HIDDEN GLOBE: HOW WEALTH HACKS THE WORLD.

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Atossa Araxia Abrahamian on the Offshore World

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with James Romm, historian and classicist, about his new book, PLATO AND THE TYRANT: THE FALL OF GREECE'S GREATEST DYNASTY AND THE MAKING OF A PHILOSOPHIC MASTERPIECE.

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Episode 22: James Romm on Plato and Tyranny

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

"What has happened to human attention over the last century is exactly what has happened to the prairielands of America: a monoculture." —The Friends of Attention

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Blessing the Sow | The Friends of Attention

On the varieties of attentive experience.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

“The Cold War laboratory research identified something real about humans: that we can focus on a stimulus on a screen. But it is hardly an adequate account of what it is to be a human person,” says D. Graham Burnett in this week’s episode of The World in Time.

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Episode 21: The Friends of Attention

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

Read an end-of-the-year letter from acting editor Donovan Hohn. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...

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The Haven Ahead | Donovan Hohn

A letter from the acting editor.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Charles King on baroque music’s glorious revolution. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/f...

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“The Famous Mr. Hendel” | Charles King

Baroque music’s glorious revolution.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Save on back issues through the end of 2025. Forty percent off everything in our web store right now. ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/AAF/app...

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Charles King about his latest book, “Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 20: Charles King on Handel's “Messiah”

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Jeremy Eichler on Benjamin Britten and the angels of history. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/r...

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The Ruined Cathedral | Jeremy Eichler

On Benjamin Britten and the angels of history.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Jeremy Eichler, author of “Time’s Echo: Music, Memory, and the Second World War.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 19: Jeremy Eichler on Time’s Echo

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Sometime in the late 1580s, Christopher Marlowe came upon a book that jolted him. Entitled “The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus,” it was an English translation, done by someone who signed himself “P.F. Gent.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...

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This Is Hell, Nor Am I Out of It | Stephen Greenblatt

On Christopher Marlowe’s Faustian bargains.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe’s Faustian bargains. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Stephen Greenblatt about “Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 18: Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

In which @alexanderchee.bsky.social and @calebcrain.bsky.social propose that Moby Dick, dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne, might be read as “a love letter.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

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Matt Weiland @mattweiland.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Reposted by Lapham’s Quarterly

Harper’s Magazine @harpers.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

“‘It’s awful,’ the historian said. ‘All true,’ I said.” A collage essay from @hernyfreebland.bsky.social, published by @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social.

The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Aaron Sachs, author of Up from the Depths, speaks with Donovan Hohn about chapter 72 of Moby Dick for @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social’s The World in Time podcast:

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Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Re-reading Moby Dick at Ahab’s age. An essay by @calebcrain.bsky.social. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/a...

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Another Cruise | Caleb Crain

Re-reading Moby Dick at Ahab’s age.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

In an extended, 3-part installment of our intermittent series on Moby Dick and the history of the sea, this podcast considers the novel’s love story—the story of Queequeg and Ishmael’s friendship and marriage—as well as the novel’s dedication to Hawthorne. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Reposted by Lapham’s Quarterly

Caleb Crain @calebcrain.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

In which I reminisce with @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social about my long career of queering Melville . . .

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Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Reposted by Lapham’s Quarterly

Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

I spoke to Donovan Hohn of @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social for their Moby Dick podcast. We talked about Chapter 4, my Queequeg and Ishmael fanfic (Quishmael for my fellow old Tumblr heads) and Melville’s unrequited love for Nathaniel Hawthorne. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 17: Queequeg and Ishmael in Love (with Alexander Chee, Aaron Sachs, and Caleb Crain)

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Reposted by Lapham’s Quarterly

Harper’s Magazine @harpers.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

“That’s the trouble with dreams of power. It stimulates anxiety about a catastrophe that has yet to happen. ” @hernyfreebland.bsky.social in a collage essay which was published by @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social.

The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

“One of the poignancies of Darrow’s life is that it was hard for him to feel better. He wanted people to feel better. There was so much cruelty in the world. I wonder if, in his heart of hearts, Bryan also couldn’t stand that meaninglessness.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 16: Brenda Wineapple on the Scopes Trial

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Brenda Wineapple on the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/t...

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The Trial of the Century | Brenda Wineapple

On the hundredth anniversary of Tennessee v. Scopes

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Brenda Wineapple, longtime member of the Lapham’s Quarterly editorial board. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 16: Brenda Wineapple on the Scopes Trial

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Henry Freedland @hernyfreebland.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

The collage essay I put together for @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social out of Lewis Lapham’s sentences is excerpted in the new issue of @harpers.bsky.social. Feels fittingly full circle: I sourced many of the sentences from his Harper’s columns, and LQ is effectively Readings through history.

The American Scheme of Things, by Henry Freedland

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

“There’s nothing more extraordinary than the world we live in … We have evolved to pay a lot of attention to our fellow humans. But if we look beyond that, even for an instant, we see that the world is an absolutely amazing place.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 15: Elizabeth Kolbert

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Experiencing history in Assassin’s Creed. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/i...

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It’s Time for Some Game Theory | Caroline Wazer

Experiencing history in Assassin’s Creed.

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Peggy Guggenheim’s Manhattan project. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/a...

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Art of This Century | Mike Wallace

Peggy Guggenheim’s Manhattan project.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

“But what is important to me in ‘The Sermon’ is that he—how can I put this?—he is the person who wants to bring a sense of proportion. And Ahab is the person who wants you to give up any sense of proportionality.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 14: Charles Baxter on “The Sermon”

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

“Father Mapple is in some strange, almost obscure way, a kind of negative double for Ahab.... he is the person who wants to bring a sense of proportion. Father Mapple kind of supplies a warning and a possible lens for a reading of the entire novel" - Retired Prof/novelist Charles Baxter on Moby Dick

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Read Charles Baxter on the literature and politics of charisma. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/f...

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The Flag of Ahab | Charles Baxter

On the literature and politics of charisma.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Charles Baxter visits The World in Time to talk with Donovan Hohn about the politics and the mysteries of charisma in Moby Dick. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 14: Charles Baxter on “The Sermon”

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

J. Edgar Hoover’s Federal Bureau of Investigation opened its file on James Baldwin in April 1960 when Baldwin’s name appeared among the signatories to an open letter that the Fair Play for Cuba Committee published as an advertisement in the New York Times. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/b...

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The FBI reads James Baldwin.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

“They really were outsiders, all of them. Sometimes people think, oh, well, he was just drawn to these men who were essentially straight, like he had some kind of complex or something. Maybe. But he was also just drawn to these crazy outsiders. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 13: Nicholas Boggs on James Baldwin

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

The FBI reads James Baldwin. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/b...

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The FBI reads James Baldwin.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

“He writes wonderfully about Baldwin. He writes about their early days in Paris. Friedrich had these wonderful, wonderful anecdotes about the trips they took to the south of France that went totally awry.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/n...

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Notes on a Native Son | Otto Friedrich

An excerpt from “Jimmy.”

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with biographer Nicholas Boggs about “Baldwin: A Love Story,” a book three decades in the making. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 13: Nicholas Boggs on James Baldwin

The latest episode of The World in Time.

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

He entered the world on May 25, 1803. This was in Boston, the city he would later condemn as a necropolis of dead ideas and faint hearts and mercantile mildew. But what he saw as a child was very different. www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/d...

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The Draft of Time | James Marcus

A reading from Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with writer and biographer James Marcus about his book “Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 12: James Marcus on Emerson and Melville

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

You still have a chance to buy back issues during our summer sale. 25% off all available Lapham’s Quarterly back issues, from now until Labor Day. ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/AAF/app...

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

“Some of the fears about loneliness, some of the fears about pain, some of the worries about doubt, about making a good life or the life of right choosing, are issues that trouble us in exactly the same way, or challenge us in exactly the same way.” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 11: Matthew Hollis on “The Seafarer”

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

This week on the podcast, Donovan Hohn speaks with Matthew Hollis about his new translation of The Seafarer, about the history of the poem’s improbable survival, and about its rediscovery by the Romantics and the Modernists. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 11: Matthew Hollis on “The Seafarer”

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Consider the meanings of the verb to loom, whether Ishmael is likeable or funny, why the antebellum religious press condemned Moby Dick, and what the best medicine might be for “the universal thump” on our podcast. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 10: “Loomings,” with Francine Prose

The latest episode of The World in Time.

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Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

“If you were to ask a range of readers, ‘Can you think of a 1st sentence?’ You probably get ‘It was the best of times, and the worst of times’ or ‘the worst of times, & the best of times,’ and people would get it backward. But then you get ‘Call me Ishmael.’” www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

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Episode 10: “Loomings,” with Francine Prose

The latest episode of The World in Time.