Excerpt:

For four years we’ve been editing a crossover series of books and essays called Object Lessons. The idea is simple: authors choose an object to write about -- say, refrigerators or fruit wax -- and then illuminate a lesson about its hidden role in historical and contemporary life.

There’s a yawning gap between academic writing and popular, hot-take journalism. Scholars fancy that they cover important, current topics, but they do so in styles and venues that reach only narrow audiences. And yet there has never been a better time for academics to reach the public directly, and in ways that are compatible with their professional contexts and goals.

For the full article, read here.