Tim Carney’s Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse breaks down the 2016 presidential election into two parts.

Some say “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” is either a silly question or a stumper, but it may expose an improper understanding of angels. The answer is an infinite number because angels are immaterial beings who do not occupy space the way a person would. “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” is also a good question to ask because it exposes the inadequacy of a Darwinian perspective.

Many of our readers have told us how much they appreciate the writings of John R. Erickson, the author of the popular Hank the Cowdog series of children’s books. Over the next few months, thanks to the University of North Texas Press, WORLD is publishing as part of our Saturday Series chapters from his Through Time and the Valley. The book, first published in 1978, recounts Erickson’s journey in 1972 on horseback through the Texas Panhandle’s isolated Canadian River valley.

Many pundits in their 20s and 30s talk of unprecedented developments in American politics, but such chatter often means that they haven’t seen something before during their brief careers. Michael Barone, a co-author for half a century of The Almanac of American Politics, has seen it all and refuses to panic.

Over the past few months, we’ve posted in the Saturday Series a few of my never-published speeches on topics that are still relevant.

With gut-punching photographs and stories, Chris Arnade’s Dignity shows what life looks like from the “back row,” the benches of the unemployed and uneducated, the drugged and depressed, the homeless and hopeless. In this excerpt, courtesy of Penguin Random House, Arnade notes that “much of the back row of America, both white and black, is humiliated. The good jobs they could get straight out of high school and gave the stability of a lifelong career have left.

Many of our readers have told us how much they appreciate the writings of John R. Erickson, the author of the popular Hank the Cowdog series of children’s books. Over the next few months, thanks to the University of North Texas Press, WORLD is publishing as part of our Saturday Series chapters from Erickson’s Through Time and the Valley. The book, first published in 1978, recounts Erickson and Bill Ellzey’s journey in 1972 on horseback through the Texas Panhandle’s isolated Canadian River valley.