More than 600 nautical miles off the coast of California, 29-year-old Oliver Widger is reinventing his life with his cat, a sailboat and a dream. “What would I tell myself before embarking on this ...

One of the most arresting American images from the pre-Civil War era is a photograph of a man’s hand, palm forward, with the letters “SS” seared into its flesh. The hand belonged to a New England ...