Sarah Gilman

"Salem Village was a small Puritan town, miles away from anything. And in the winter of 1691, it was a cold, lonely place. But when local girls began acting strangely, over two hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft. How could a few girls sway an entire village and convince officials to execute twenty people? Learn about the disturbing details that led to the Salem Witch Trials and the aftermath of this dark and terrible part of American...

"From the author of Apocalyptic Planet, an unsparing, vivid, revelatory travelogue through prehistory that traces the arrival of the First People in North America twenty thousand years ago and the artifacts that enable us to imagine their lives and fates. Scientists squabble over the locations and dates for human arrival in the New World. The first explorers were few, encampments fleeting. At some point in time, between twenty and forty thousand years...

20 science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022. The essays in this year's Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer's disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded...