Young men are not doing well. In 2022, among 10 to 24-year-olds, males accounted for 78% of suicides. In 2023, male high school graduates were 8% less likely to enroll in college. The labor-force participation rate has dropped by 10% among young men ages 20 to 24 over the last 30 years.   “The data around boys and men is overwhelming,” writes author Scott Galloway, a popular podcaster and university professor. Drawing on social and economic trends and his 61 years of life exp

Obsessive parental love taken to the next level runs rampant in “Homeschooled,” an addictive memoir that while disturbing also inspires. Stefan Merrill Block has written a testament to the resiliency of children, to their ability to survive abuse in in a page turner that focuses on a mother overly attached to her youngest son. The opening incident highlights what’s to come for young Stefan as he fantasizes about injuring himself just enough in a fall to get his mother to sta

In May 1884 the Mignonette, a 52-two-foot yacht, set sail from England to be delivered to its new owner in Australia. Many thought the Mignonette was too frail a vessel to withstand the seas it would encounter in its 122-day voyage to Sydney. Nevertheless, the ship was manned by a captain with extensive seafaring experience, two mates with similar backgrounds, and a 17-year-old cabin boy. Several weeks into the journey the ship encountered heavy seas in the south Atlantic, s

Hooray! A brand new year! Let’s welcome 2026 with some stellar Picks. Clover’s suggestions for January are light-hearted and fun, stories to tickle readers’ funny bones. Moving forward, let’s set the mood-meter to pure joy, stay resolute about adding a smile-a-day to our calendars. Everyone knows “laughter is the best medicine,” and Clover is happy to prescribe a trio of “Smile-a-While Reads” that are sure to please. Page On! Enjoy! The Community Literacy Foundation, in partn

Public education is at the forefront in almost every community in the United States. Teaching is key to shaping values and lives. Because of the power of education, schools have become a battleground over what gets taught. Angry citizens confront school boards with critical questions: who gets instructed, how, by whom, and who decides the curriculum? Efforts to suppress freedom of speech and knowledge about race, gender, and sexuality have become so politicized and heated tha

In the summer of 1994 Christine Kuehn, working at a Maryland radio station, received a letter from a Hollywood screenwriter. He was writing a screenplay based on a World War II incident that might have involved Otto, her grandfather. The writer hoped to make contact with Eberhardt, her father, Otto’s son, to uncover facts about the matter. Thus began a 30-year quest that led Kuehn deeper and deeper into unknown territory in her family’s history. Her father had always been qu