Ben Yagoda
By Ben Yagoda
-
Culture What Bob Dylan Owes to Frank Sinatra — and Vice-Versa
In the summer of 1966, Frank Sinatra passed a baton to Bob Dylan. Not literally, of course: it’s hard to imagine, at that point in their lives, the two men being in the same physical space. Sinatra had been the most important figure in American popular music for twenty-five years: from his bobbysoxer days with…
-
Culture How Steven Pinker Became the Anti-Maven of Language
Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family professor of psychology at Harvard, didn’t coin “language maven” (William Safire did, back in the ’70s, to describe himself), but he did more than anyone else to popularize the term. In a 1994 article in The New Republic called “Grammar Puss,” included in his subsequent book “The Language Instinct,” Pinker…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Hamas made a remarkable offer — because Trump laid a remarkable trap
- 2
Special Report This school is fighting antisemitism all wrong. Why is it working?
- 3
Books A bespectacled, Jewish hypochondriac with literary pretensions and a creepy fascination with his stepson’s girlfriend — Guess who?
- 4
Opinion Israel is at an existential pivot point. It never needed to go this far.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Jewish donors play into all the stereotypes,’ Charlie Kirk wrote in leaked text messages before his murder
-
Fast Forward MIT’s Jewish president rejects Trump’s offer of ‘priority’ funding in exchange for policy changes
-
Fast Forward Ro Khanna distances himself after posting documentary clip featuring antisemitic influencer
-
Opinion ‘Conversion therapy is having a moment’ — what will that mean for LGBTQ+ Jews?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
