Should We Be Reading Other People’s Diaries? A New TV Series Makes a Convincing Case.

Diaries are temping because they’re not meant to be read. Peeking inside someone else’s private thoughts, secret desires, and perhaps-unkind musings feels illicit, but it’s also an unparalleled way to understand a person—or at least the part of themselves they honestly put down on the page. Diaries that have been published (including those by the likes of Anne Frank, Cecil Beaton, Dawn Powell, Patricia Highsmith, and recently British politician and bon vivant Henry “Chips” Channon) give us a first-hand account of history that few other documents can, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Willa Cather and Georgia O’Keeffe both… Read Full Article