The filmmaker is known for his idiosyncratic creative process in which he and his actors create the film together through workshopping and improvisation.

The filmmaker is concerned with getting to the truth about people, not about passing judgment. “Everybody is interesting, and everybody is the potential central character in a story, so judging […]

I am unashamedly in the entertainment business,” says Leigh. “If a film is not entertaining, forget it, it’s a failure.

The filmmaker was more influenced by the realism of the “Nouvelle Vague” of 1960s France than by the “British New Wave” or the tradition of Dickensian social realism.

The British master of suspense once said that women who spent all day doing chores wouldn’t want to watch a film about a woman doing chores. Mike Leigh begs to […]

A conversation with the filmmaker.

The very first human records were records of slaves, which suggests that it has existed as a practice long before recorded history and has dogged mankind ever since.

Conservative estimates say that there are 50,000 slaves in the U.S., and less than half of these are being sexually exploited—the rest could be in your neighbor’s backyard or in […]

Military juntas like Burma and failed states like the Congo are, unsurprisingly, fertile grounds for slavery. But the practice thrives even in developed countries like Japan and the United States.

There are some tell-tale signs that someone is being forced to work against his or her will. Would you recognize them?

Most modern slaves are people who, driven by economic desperation, agree to take jobs far from their homes thinking they will help feed their families. Only when they are severed […]

Slavery is not just about Africans being forced to work in cotton fields—it’s an insidious practice that has existed throughout history and continues to this day, thanks in large part […]

A conversation with the anti-slavery advocate.

Women tend to be systematically better at doing what works in leadership positions. The data indicates that women are better managers and better for the economy.

Because of a persistently unequal division of work at home, men, on average, put in more hours at the office. As a result, it’s harder for women to reach the […]

The idea that there is a persistent prejudice against women that keeps them from top roles in society is out of sync with reality.

Successful female leaders tend to act like role models, inspiring and encouraging others. These qualities are make them better suited as leaders of the organizations we’ve developed in the modern […]

A conversation with the Northwestern University professor of psychology.

Before setting off on a new novel, the author must be fully equipped with a sense of his characters, must have a path in mind, and must be able to […]

The detective tries to be outside the story, hiding in his office with his bottle of whiskey in the desk drawer, yet he always ends up inside it. This alienated […]

The history of the novel in the 20th century is, among other things, a history of an argument with cinema—a very excited, nervous argument.

In the tradition of Jay-Z and Jean-Michel Basquiat, YouTube users create brilliant “vernacular moments”—moments filled with pure expressivity that don’t bother to think of themselves as art.

Jonathan Letham used to think he was a hipster—until he realized the amount of nastiness people intended when they used that word.

The author writes about neighborhoods in New York with such richness that they become characters unto themselves. Here, he discusses his favorite undiscovered hoods that haven’t yet made it into […]

There is a bogus script in American life that everything was better during some imagined time in the past. We tend to characterize change as either sweepingly utopian or dystopian, […]

A conversation with the novelist.

Sometime in the 21st century psychology will finally be considered a science. But until then political correctness will interfere with its search for truth.

The molecular biologist believes that a predisposition to schizophrenia is 100% genetic. Certain environmental factors, like smoking marijuana, can trigger the mental disorder.

Most doctors believe that different cancers require personalized therapies, but studying their common biochemistry could lead to a universal treatment.

The X-ray crystallographer contributed some crucial pieces of information to Watson and Crick’s search for the double helix. But because she likely had Asperger’s syndrome, she was almost impossible to collaborate with.