Sara Roy
The Long War on Gaza

Over fifty-six years, Israel has transformed Gaza from a functional economy to a dysfunctional one, from a productive society to an impoverished one.

Hannah Gold
‘No No Not to Read’

In Stephen Sondheim’s posthumously produced last play, a group of wealthy fine-dining enthusiasts find themselves at the end of the world.

Christopher Benfey
Solo Sonata

In December 1943 the composer Béla Bartók, in exile from fascist Hungary, arrived for a stay in Asheville, North Carolina.

Christine Smallwood
People of Substance

In Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film, a woman brought back from the dead embarks on a headlong pursuit of desire and knowledge.

David Levine 2024 Calendar

The 2024 edition of this annual favorite features David Levine classics drawn exclusively for The New York Review of Books, including Zora Neale Hurston, Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Frederick Douglass, Lewis Carroll and more.

Available exclusively at shop.nybooks.com

Free from the Archives

Today is the shortest day and longest night of the year—from the time this e-mail was sent, there are only eight and a half hours of sunlight remaining in New York City. Across the Atlantic and about 721 miles north, the sun will set in eight hours, and, from a small rise in southwest England, it will be framed rather precisely by two blocks of stone weighing twenty-five tons each.

In the Review’s June 23, 1966, issue, the British archaeologist R. J. C. Atkinson wrote about the meaning and history of Stonehenge, as well as some of the more outlandish theories about its purpose

R. J. C. Atkinson
Stonehenge in Darkness

“The one question which archaeology cannot hope to answer about Stonehenge is: What was it for? In the absence of contemporary written records, this is and must remain a matter for conjecture, not for proof. The most common explanation, based on the midsummer sunrise orientation, is that it was a temple for sun-worship.

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