Tara Isabella Burton
writer
Tara Isabella Burton writes about religion, culture and place, and her work has appeared in National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among others. Her books include Social Creature (2018), The World Cannot Give (2022) and Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians (2023), and she is currently working on a history of magic and modernity.
Written by Tara Isabella Burton

essaySubcultures
Of memes and magick
Bending a mysterious world to your will was the goal of esoteric practices. Now it’s the unashamed aim of the tech titans
Tara Isabella Burton

essaySubcultures
What is a cult?
Cults are exploitative, weird groups with strange beliefs and practices, right? So what about regular religions then?
Tara Isabella Burton

ideaArt
Why the dandy is a subversive work of public art
Tara Isabella Burton

essayReligion
Spare the rod
Christian Domestic Discipline and the erotics of religious submission raise the possibility of a new concept of God
Tara Isabella Burton

essayStories and literature
Dark books
What’s more wholesome than reading? Yet books wield a dangerous power: the best erode self, infecting readers with ideas
Tara Isabella Burton