How the I.R.A. Almost Blew Up the British Government Four decades ago, a hotel bomb nearly claimed the lives of Margaret Thatcher and her ministers. Can we still feel the aftershocks? April 3, 2023 The Profound Surfaces of Preston Sturges For the filmmaker and master of the screwball comedy, how we presented ourselves was far more interesting than our inner feelings. April 3, 2023 How an East German Novelist Electrified Socialist Realism Seizing upon the margin of artistic freedom she was allowed, Brigitte Reimann captured life in the G.D.R.—and her own fissured commitments. March 27, 2023 Why the Animal Kingdom Is Full of Con Artists Some crows “cry wolf” to snatch food from their neighbors; some caterpillars trick ants into treating them like queens. What can we learn from beasts that bluff? March 27, 2023 Briefly Noted “Ghosts of the Orphanage,” “The Absent Moon,” “An Autobiography of Skin,” and “The Dog of the North.” March 27, 2023 A Shape-Shifting Short-Story Collection Defies Categorization Kelly Link’s postmodern fairy tales make the case for enchantment. March 27, 2023 Briefly Noted “A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs,” “I Am Still with You,” “Biography of X,” and “Users.” March 20, 2023 The Accursed Brilliance of Sebastian Barry Combining verbal exuberance and narrative intricacy, Barry reimagines the hauntings of Irish history. March 20, 2023 J. Crew and the Paradoxes of Prep By mass-marketing social aspiration, the brand toed the line between exclusivity and accessibility—and established prep as America’s visual vernacular. March 20, 2023 Briefly Noted “The Great Displacement,” “The Half Known Life,” “Big Swiss,” and “Age of Vice.” March 13, 2023