Rebecca Schuman
Books
Hands on FranzIn Kafka’s Last Trial, Benjamin Balint charts the court battle over manuscripts that were never supposed to exist.
Books
Finding the Laughs in the Decline of the HumanitiesA conversation with Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement.
Family
Volk HeroesThis fun new book about how Germans raise their kids will break American parents’ hearts.
Sports
How Larry Nassar Got Away With ItThe team doctor preyed on young gymnasts who’d been taught their bodies were not their own.
Education
“Demoralizing but Informative”For job-seeking academics, December is the least wonderful time of the year. The academic wikis are why.
Education
College Students Want to Kill Foreign Language RequirementsUniversities should tell them nein.
Brow Beat
Trader Joe’s German Brother Aldi Is Getting Some Stiff Competition on the U.S. Supermarket Scene
Culturebox
Why Americans Are So Bloody Awful at British AccentsIf British actors’ American accents are “bang on,” why are Americans’ British accents such rubbish?
Education
Whatever You Do, Don’t Say This to a ProfessorCollege students often believe they’re helping themselves when they make one particular appeal. They’re not.
Five-ring Circus
Why Isn’t Gabby Douglas Smiling?How a champion gymnast became the Olympics’ easiest target.
Sports
You Get a 10! You Get a 10! You Get a 10!College gymnastics is spectacular. The sport’s scoring system is abjectly bonkers.
Sports
The Strength of Simone BilesThe gold medalist’s #MeToo statement calling out USA Gymnastics could be her greatest legacy.
Education
Stop Problematizing Academic JargonIt’s easy to mock specialized vocabulary. In these anti-intellectual times, we need it more than ever.
Education
Student Journalists Are Under ThreatUniversities are increasingly cracking down on their speech. That’s bad news for them and very bad news for democracy.
Education
Oh Good, a “Professor Watch List”The timing of a new website meant to identify liberal academics is grotesque.
Culturebox
Just in Time for Our Impending Nuclear Holocaust … It’s Nena!The “99 Luftballons” singer on Trump, playing the U.S. for the first time, and the Americans who butcher her song at karaoke.
The XX Factor
That Sexist Job-Search Advice About Engagement Rings? Female Academics Have Heard It for Years.
Music
How Olympic Gymnasts Choose the Perfect Tacky Songs for Their Floor RoutinesFrom the Sex and the City theme to Madama Butterfly to Queen Bey.