Those who have encountered Cape Codor merely dipped into an account of its rich historyknow that it is a singular place. Robert Finch writes of its beaches: 'No other place I know sears the heart with such a constant juxtaposition of pleasure and pain, of beauty being born and destroyed in the same moment.' And nowhere within its borders is this truth more vivid and dramatic than along the forty miles of Atlantic coastwhat Finch has always known as...

"Today the Port of New York is where container ships and tankers park while waiting to reload and be on their way around the world. Long black tankers support layered white wheelhouses. Bright orange freighters with pink hulls and white cabins support deck cranes sitting like giant grasshoppers. The orange Staten Island ferries transverse the harbor, passing each other in front of Ms. Liberty through the day and night. The high-speed commuter ferries...

"The Antikythera Mechanism, now 82 small fragments of corroded bronze, was an ancient Greek machine simulating the cosmos as the Greeks understood it. Reflecting the most recent researches, A Portable Cosmos presents it as a gateway to Greek astronomy and technology and their place in Greco-Roman society and thought"-- "From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Terracotta Army, ancient artifacts have long fascinated the modern world. However, the importance...

Presents an anthology of the best literary essays published in the past year, selected from American periodicals.