Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son’s Memoir

(Simon & Schuster) The author tells the story of his mother, Susan Sontag’s battle with cancer and her fear of death. As her only child, Rieff relates the relationship between mother and son as he journeyed with Sontag from her initial diagnosis to her death in 2004. Rieff is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and is the author of seven previous books.

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PAW’s May 2026 cover, featuring a photo of an orange flower.
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May 2026

The Attentionauts; Philip Stoltzfus ’79 and Lebanese American University in wartime.