TO FREE THE CAPTIVES: A Plea for the American Soul, by Tracy K. Smith Since her first book of poetry, “The Body’s Question,” was published in 2003, Tracy K. Smith has been a writer to watch.

In Tracy K. Smith’s new book of interlinked essays, “To Free the Captives,” she imagines her dead parents returning as surprisingly no-nonsense specters. They have no grand messages to ...

How should one reckon with America’s troubled history? In her newest memoir “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul,” Tracy K. Smith ’94 delves into the past through the lens ...