Whether it's a film like "Saving Private Ryan," or a memoir like A Helmet for My Pillow, the temptation to romanticize war-and the Second World War, in particular-is part of American life. Tara Copp made sense of her own experience in the Iraq war, by understanding her grandfather's service more than 70 years ago.

A behavioral scientist by training, an unwanted Twitter celebrity by circumstance, Caroline Orr uses social media to make sure her scholarship reaches a wide audience-and in doing so helped expose Russia's disinformation campaign against the United States.

One of the most persistent ideas in the politics of the West, whether we're talking about Europe or the United States, is that government debt is best attacked through reducing government spending. Mark Blyth, warns though, that "austerity," as such plans are known, is a historically dangerous idea.

Local plans to remove Civil War monuments reflect not just the history of America's bloodiest war, but our collective memory of it as well. Julian Chambliss discusses the war and its commemoration.

Western liberalism-the idea that freedom is best preserved by free institutions-is under assault. Edward Luce, a Washington correspondent for the Financial Times explores the rise of populist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

News consumers rely on a select group of journalists willing to travel into combat zones to understand the conflicts of the 21st century. No one in recent years has done that job better than CJ Chivers.

The tension between faith and reason is an ancient one, made even more distinct in the West by the scientific revolution that preceded the era of the Enlightenment. Alan Lightman is a scientist whose personal transcendent experience shapes his view of spirituality today.

One of the most persistent ideas in the politics of the West, whether we're talking about Europe or the United States, is that government debt is best attacked through reducing government spending. Mark Blyth, warns though, that "austerity," as such plans are known, is a historically dangerous idea.

The intermingling of traditional and emerging security challenges demands fresh thinking from a new generation of scholars and practitioners-guest Jacquelyn Schneider tells us that some of those new thinkers and new soldiers will not look like their predecessors.

The tension between faith and reason is an ancient one, made even more distinct in the West by the scientific revolution that preceded the era of the Enlightenment. Alan Lightman is a scientist whose personal transcendent experience shapes his view of spirituality today.

The intermingling of traditional and emerging security challenges demands fresh thinking from a new generation of scholars and practitioners-guest Jacquelyn Schneider tells us that some of those new thinkers and new soldiers will not look like their predecessors.

In decades of writing for The New York Times, Dan Barry has captured powerful stories, from grown men living in servitude on an Iowa poultry farm to the unnamed children lost to history in Ireland's homes for unwed mothers.

Since 1976, nearly 1500 Americans have been executed in the name of justice. Sister Helen Prejean, though, cautions about the human cost of the death penalty and the innocent victims wrongfully put to death.

"What would I have done?" It's a central question in the student of history's imagination when confronted by the horrors of the holocaust. Omar Bartov delves deep into the experience of one town in Ukraine changed forever by genocide.

Death, the old saying goes, is part of life. That wisdom seems especially appropriate if, like Margalit Fox, you are a staff writer on the Obituaries desk at The New York Times.

Imagine the courage of a young black man in the Jim Crow South to sit at a "Whites Only" lunch counter; to need a military escort for a bus ride; to be assaulted by the Ku Klux Klan, and, through it all, to remain committed to non-violence. Dr. Bernard LaFayette has done just that.

The work of talented photographers inspires: the composition; the courage to go after stories; the ability to frame a subject is so much more than simply "pointing and shooting" a camera. Maddie McGarvey does it better than most.

Former Secretary of State and Democratic Senator of Massachusetts John Kerry is interviewed.

Whether it's a film like "Saving Private Ryan," or a memoir like A Helmet for My Pillow, the temptation to romanticize war-and the Second World War, in particular-is part of American life. Tara Copp made sense of her own experience in the Iraq war, by understanding her grandfather's service more than 70 years ago.

A behavioral scientist by training, an unwanted Twitter celebrity by circumstance, Caroline Orr uses social media to make sure her scholarship reaches a wide audience-and in doing so helped expose Russia's disinformation campaign against the United States.

4.1 miles is the distance from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, and the scene of incredible human courage, compassion, and loss as told by Daphne Matziaraki in her Academy Award-nominated short documentary about the refugee crisis in Europe.

Speculative fiction allows authors to spin out scenarios and game outcomes from real-life headlines. Jeffrey Lewis rips recent headlines apart in a new novel about the U.S.-North Korea nuclear relationship to warn about the potential for miscalculation and nuclear war.

Western liberalism-the idea that freedom is best preserved by free institutions-is under assault. Edward Luce, a Washington correspondent for the Financial Times explores the rise of populist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

News consumers rely on a select group of journalists willing to travel into combat zones to understand the conflicts of the 21st century. No one in recent years has done that job better than CJ Chivers.

The stories we tell ourselves shape who we are, as individuals, and as a society. Padma Venkatraman is a novelist whose stories explore enduring themes about the use of violence to resist evil, the meaning of family, and tension between tradition and modernity.

Domestic political and economic considerations influence nations' foreign policies and how they wage conflict. Rosella Cappella Zielinski has analyzed the costs of war dating back almost two centuries and shared her insights about the enormous cost of war.