Pathways

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

The most modern piece of modern furniture: the filing cabinet. Places Journal

Civilization didn’t come from agriculture, government, or religion. It came from clothing. Aeon

What’s modernity? Longer life expectancy and the decline of infant mortality. New York Times

Secularization doesn’t happen overnight; there are stepping stones. The British Academy

Renaissance was an invention by historians, a fiction made in order to tell a story… Aeon

We need to rethink our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Natural law can help. Church Life Journal

A triumphalist history of American bombing. The Baffler

Battery Park City in NYC was, for one short summer, a wheat field. Untapped Cities

Catholic theology in America is in crisis. Again. America Magazine

What do a twenty-first century political scientist and Charles Dickens have in common? Their critique of scientism. Comment Magazine