From twenty-seven of today's leading writers, an anthology of original pieces on the author of Walden Features essays by Jennifer Finney Boylan * Kristen Case * George Howe Colt * Gerald Early * Paul Elie * Will Eno * Adam Gopnik * Lauren Groff * Celeste Headlee * Pico Iyer * Alan Lightman * James Marcus * Megan Marshall * Michelle Nijhuis * Zoe Pollak * Jordan Salama * Tatiana Schlossberg * A. O. Scott * Mona Simpson * Stacey Vanek Smith * Wen Stephenson * Robert Sullivan * Amor Towles * Sherry Turkle * Geoff Wisner * Rafia Zakaria * and a cartoon by Sandra Boynton The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), the author of Walden, "Civil Disobedience," and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. In Now Comes Good Sailing, twenty-seven of today's leading writers offer wide-ranging original pieces exploring how Thoreau has influenced and inspired them-and why he matters more than ever in an age of climate, racial, and technological reckoning. Here, Lauren Groff retreats from the COVID-19 pandemic to a rural house and writing hut, where, unable to write, she rereads Walden; Pico Iyer describes how Thoreau provided him with an unlikely guidebook to Japan; Gerald Early examines Walden and the Black quest for nature; Rafia Zakaria reflects on solitude, from Thoreau's Concord to her native Pakistan; Mona Simpson follows in Thoreau's footsteps at Maine's Mount Katahdin; Jennifer Finney Boylan reads Thoreau in relation to her experience of coming out as a trans woman; Adam Gopnik traces Thoreau's influence on the New Yorker editor E. B. White and his book Charlotte's Web; and there's much more. The result is a lively and compelling collection that richly demonstrates the countless ways Thoreau continues to move, challenge, and provoke readers today.

From twenty-seven of today’s leading writers, an anthology of original pieces on the author of Walden Features essays by Jennifer Finney Boylan • Kristen Case • George Howe Colt • Gerald Early • Paul Elie • Will Eno • Adam Gopnik • Lauren Groff • Celeste Headlee • Pico Iyer • Alan Lightman • James Marcus • Megan Marshall • Michelle Nijhuis • Zoë Pollak • Jordan Salama • Tatiana Schlossberg • A. O. Scott • Mona Simpson • Stacey Vanek Smith • Wen Stephenson • Robert Sullivan • Amor Towles • Sherry Turkle • Geoff Wisner • Rafia Zakaria • and a cartoon by Sandra Boynton The world is never done catching up with Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), the author of Walden, “Civil Disobedience,” and other classics. A prophet of environmentalism and vegetarianism, an abolitionist, and a critic of materialism and technology, Thoreau even seems to have anticipated a world of social distancing in his famous experiment at Walden Pond. In Now Comes Good Sailing, twenty-seven of today’s leading writers offer wide-ranging original pieces exploring how Thoreau has influenced and inspired them—and why he matters more than ever in an age of climate, racial, and technological reckoning. Here, Lauren Groff retreats from the COVID-19 pandemic to a rural house and writing hut, where, unable to write, she rereads Walden; Pico Iyer describes how Thoreau provided him with an unlikely guidebook to Japan; Gerald Early examines Walden and the Black quest for nature; Rafia Zakaria reflects on solitude, from Thoreau’s Concord to her native Pakistan; Mona Simpson follows in Thoreau’s footsteps at Maine’s Mount Katahdin; Jennifer Finney Boylan reads Thoreau in relation to her experience of coming out as a trans woman; Adam Gopnik traces Thoreau’s influence on the New Yorker editor E. B. White and his book Charlotte’s Web; and there’s much more. The result is a lively and compelling collection that richly demonstrates the countless ways Thoreau continues to move, challenge, and provoke readers today.

"The next best thing to not having a brother (as I do not) is to have "Brothers.""
--Gay Talese

Here is a tapestry of stories about the complex and unique relationship that exists between brothers. In this book, some of our finest authors take an unvarnished look at how brothers admire and admonish, revere and revile, connect and compete, love and war with each other. With hearts and minds wide open, and, in some cases, with laugh-out-loud humor, the writers tackle a topic that is as old as the Bible and yet has been, heretofore, overlooked.

Contributors range in age from twenty-four to eighty-four, and their stories from comic to tragic. "Brothers" examines and explores the experiences of love and loyalty and loss, of altruism and anger, of competition and compassion--the confluence of things that conspire to form the unique nature of what it is to be and to have a brother.

"Brother." One of our eternal and quintessential terms of endearment. Tobias Wolff writes, "The good luck of having a brother is partly the luck of having stories to tell." David Kaczynski, brother of "The Unabomber" "I'll start with the premise that a brother shows you who you are--and also who you are not. He's an image of the self, at one remove . . . You are a 'we' with your brother before you are a 'we' with any other." Mikal Gilmore refers to brotherhood as a "fidelity born of blood."

We've heard that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But where do the apples fall in relation to each other? And are we, in fact, our brothers' keepers, after all?

These stories address those questions and more, and are, like the relationships, full of intimacy and pain, joy and rage, burdens and blessings, humor and humanity.

What defines Boston? Its history? Its landmarks? Its sports teams and shrines?
Perhaps the question should be: Who defines Boston? From Henry David Thoreau to Dennis Lehane, Boston has been beloved by many of America's greatest writers, and there is no better group of men and women to capture the heart and soul of the Hub. In "Our Boston," editor Andrew Blauner has collected both original and reprinted essays from Boston area writers past and present, all celebrating the city they love. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, they responded to his call to celebrate this great city by providing almost all brand-new works, and forgoing royalties in order to support the survivors and their families. For every copy of "Our Boston" sold, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will donate $5 to the One Fund Boston.
From Mike Barnicle to Pico Iyer, Susan Orlean to George Plimpton, Leigh Montville to Lesley Visser, Pagan Kennedy to James Atlas, here is a collection of the best essays by our best writers on one of America's greatest cities.