Pathways

Each month we keep track of the different paths modern life is taking right now and how writers are trying to keep up. Here are some routes we found in July that opened up new vistas on what it means to be modern and how we became that way.

The old is new, and the new is medieval. Hildegard von Blingin’ and Bardcore. Worth a listen.

When we write about Thomas Jefferson, we not only reveal something about him but also something about ourselves.

Were the ancients afraid of mountains? Probably not, especially since the whole cosmos is a mountain.

If we remake a medieval writer in our image, are we desecrating his or her bones?

Which inventions have made us what we are: lightbulbs, phonographs, and more!

Modernity hides itself; our job is to reveal it.

Looking for a good history book? Read Beowulf.

What is heaven like? For Borges, it is an infinite library.

Modernists tore down old buildings. Now they want people to conserve aging modernists buildings. We shouldn’t.

The 1619 Project won a Pulitzer. Is this another episode in a false revisionism?

Defenders of the civilization-state say the search for universal values is over. Must we accept that we speak only for ourselves and our societies?

How the black legend still prevents us from assessing the Spanish missions and their relationship to indigenous peoples.

A bad title, but an important question. How do we learn from Aristotle in the era of woke cancellation and arguments over history?

Why are historians from the 1950s so interesting? Is it because they were willing to write big histories for big audiences?

Homer on why chasing after the perfect beach bod this summer will probably make us miserable.