Jay Tolson
- Editor, The Hedgehog Review
Jay Tolson is Editor of The Hedgehog Review, the award-winning journal of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. A journalist, editor, author, and critic, Tolson covered religion, culture and ideas for U. S. News & World Report after working for more than decade as the literary editor and editor of the Wilson Quarterly. More recently, he served as the news director of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty in Prague, Czech Republic, directed the French to Africa service of the Voice of America, and launched the Global News Network for the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors. His interest in religion and cultural and intellectual history runs throughout his journalism and criticism and informed his prize-winning biography of novelist Walker Percy, Pilgrim in the Ruins. His work has appeared in the New Republic, Nation, National Review, Wall Street Journal, American Scholar, Times Literary Supplement (London), and other publications.
The Hedgehog Review Spring 2021
For a limited time, all essays from "Who Do We Think We Are?" are available online to nonsubscribers, including those by Institute Fellows Charles T. Mathewes and Peter Skerry.
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The Hedgehog Review Fall 2020
Will the myths that once bound the nation hold? This question is the focus of The Hedgehog Review's fall 2020 issue—"America on the Brink."
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The Hedgehog Review Summer 2020
“Questioning the Quantified Life” is the theme of the latest issue of our award-winning Hedgehog Review. “Numbers may be our greatest tool, but do we use them wisely?”
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The Hedgehog Review Spring 2020
The latest issue of our award-winning Hedgehog Review explores how our fascination with the monstrous remains stronger than ever in contemporary culture.
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The Hedgehog Review Reader
The Hedgehog Review Reader: Two Decades of Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture features essays by 37 contributors in a 452-page hardcover volume.
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The Hedgehog Review Wins Prestigious Award from Council of Editors of Learned Journals
Posted on January 8th, 2019
The Hedgehog Review has received the Best Public Intellectual Special Issue Award for last fall’s edition, “The End of the End of History?”
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THR Contributor Lorraine Daston wins Dan David Prize
Posted on March 10th, 2018
Prof. Lorraine Daston won the prestigious Dan David Prize. Daston contributed "When Science Went Modern" to the Fall 2016 issue of The Hedgehog Review.
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THR: "The Human and the Digital"
Posted on March 1st, 2018
Are we ready for digitopia? Do we even begin to consider what we might be risking when we opt for, or succumb to, the ease, efficiency, and beguilements of online life? The spring 2018 issue of The Hedgehog Review addresses what we might be ceding to tech gurus and Big Data in four essays that focus on our theme of “The Human and the Digital.”
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THR: “The Meaning of Cities”
Posted on June 30th, 2017
It is curious that in this “epoch” of the city, surprisingly little attention is paid to the crucial purpose of cities. The summer 2017 issue of The Hedgehog Review does just that.
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THR: “The Post-Modern Self”
Posted on March 1st, 2017
The spring 2017 issue of The Hedgehog Review examines key features of our deeper cultural code in order to capture some sense of the self at this post-modern moment.
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The Hedgehog Review nominated for Ellie Award
Posted on January 20th, 2017
The Hedgehog Review has been named a finalist in the “Essays and Criticism” category by the 2017 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media.
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THR: “The Cultural Contradictions of Modern Science”
Posted on December 1st, 2016
The fall issue of The Hedgehog Review focuses on the cultural contradictions of modern science, particularly as they connect with ongoing debates over authority and truth in areas ranging from climate change to morality to the ends and purposes of science itself.
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Human/Ties celebrates 50 years of the National Endowment for the Humanities
Posted on September 21st, 2016
Last week, from September 14–17, the University of Virginia hosted Human/Ties, a four-day event cosponsored by the Institute celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Over fifty notable speakers convened in Charlottesville to participate in panels, workshops, and public lectures exploring role of the humanities in the public square.
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