The Free Press
Today: Ask the Editor of Tough Love Anything!
ForumNewslettersSign InSubscribe
Literature
A Letter to the Free-Speech Hypocrite Who Ran PEN America
The organization, founded to defend writers and free expression, published testimony from silenced Jewish and Israeli writers. Its president quit in…
William Kolbrener
‘The Odyssey’ and the Search for Historical Truth, with James Diggle and John Underhill
For centuries, scholars have debated where Odysseus called home. New evidence suggests we’ve been looking in the wrong place.
Aaron MacLean
1HR 2M
Walter Isaacson on the Sentence That Created America
And the arguments that shaped the Declaration of Independence.
Shilo Brooks
51M
The WWII Novel That Explains America
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Jon Meacham breaks down ‘The Winds of War.’
Shilo Brooks
54M
Agatha Christie and the Kidnapping That Inspired Her Greatest Mystery
Joe Nocera on the Lindbergh kidnapping, and why the world’s best-selling novelist grabs readers like nobody else.
Shilo Brooks
53M
The Veterans Who Become Novelists
What draws so many veterans to fiction after war? Elliot Ackerman and fellow novelist Karl Marlantes reflect on storytelling, remembrance, and the…
Elliot Ackerman
Inside the Supreme Court with Amy Coney Barrett
Shilo and Justice Barrett unpack the Constitution, divisive political battles, and the misconceptions surrounding one of America’s most powerful…
Shilo Brooks
50M
Stanford’s War on the Western Canon
A faculty member explains why he voted against Stanford’s new general education program, and what the curriculum reveals about the university’s retreat…
Iván Marinovic
Did AI Write This Prize-Winning Story?
Jamir Nazir’s short story was awarded the prestigious Commonwealth Prize. Days later, he was accused of using AI to write it.
Novi Zhukovsky
The Great Writers Who Were Terrible People
And why we should read their work despite their odious prejudices.
Shilo Brooks
48M
How Sports Became Our Civic Religion
And why poor, deindustrialized towns produce the most passionate fans.
Shilo Brooks
50M
The Ancient Jewish Wisdom Behind a $5 Billion Company
Daniel Lubetzky of ‘Shark Tank’ talks about ‘Pirkei Avot.’
Shilo Brooks
51M
For Free People.
LatestSearchAboutCareersForumShopPodcastsVideoEvents
©2026 The Free Press. All Rights Reserved.Powered by Substack.
Privacy∙Terms∙Collection notice