The Essay Episodes Available now
Where Have All the Flowers Gone—Dietrich in Five Songs
Paul Morley marks Dietrich's dive into a Pete Seeger anti-war folk song she transformed.
In the Ruins of Berlin—Dietrich in Five Songs
Karin Wieland analyses a song that charted Dietrich's bitter relationship with home.
When Love Dies—Dietrich in Five Songs
David Thomson charts the collaboration between Dietrich and director Joseph von Sternberg.
Falling in Love Again—Dietrich in Five Songs
Marybeth Hamilton charts a song Dietrich initially loathed yet never stopped singing.
Pause for Thought—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Florence Hazrat looks at the history of punctuation marks (such as brackets) and emojis.
Opium Tales—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Fariha Shaikh reads accounts from Thomas de Quincey (1821) to Timothy Mo and Amitav Ghosh.
Alexander and the Persians—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Julia Hartley asks why we call Alexander the Great.
The Paradox of Ecological Art—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Vid Simoniti considers eco-art from Olafur Eliasson to videos by Bo Zheng.
A Brazilian Soprano in Jazz-Age Paris—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Adjoa Osei celebrates Elsie Houston, who mixed Afro-Brazilian folk with European opera.
John Baptist Dasalu and Fighting for Freedom—New Generation Thinkers 2021
Jake Subryan Richards reads the letter sent by a captured man who arrived in Cuba in 1854.
