Editor’s Note: We’ll be running the article recommendations of our friends at TNR Reader each afternoon on The Plank, just in time to print out or save for your commute home. Enjoy!
Herman Melville went to Jerusalem in search of spiritual enlightenment. He found “a pile of arid rocks.”
Tablet | 7 min (1,689 words)
A tomb for two: How Hugo Chávez is using Bolívar’s bones to create his own legacy.
Foreign Policy | 6 min (1,556 words)
Identity and celebrity: Emily Pauline Johnson was Canada’s first postmodern star.
The Walrus | 9 min (2,348 words)
What makes acting or writing fiction any different from lying? The game of deception has rules that are set in advance.
The Economist | 6 min (1,544 words)