Is Cohabitation the Feminist Future?
Stories about women living together are proliferating—and offering alternative visions to the nuclear family.
Books
Introducing The Atlantic’s expanded books coverage: essays, criticism, fiction, poetry, and recommendations from our writers and editors
Peter Hujar’s Photos Are All the Rage. He’d Be Shocked.
A new biography brings the late photographer’s relationship with the artist Paul Thek to vivid life.
If You Want a Better World, Act Like You Live in It
We’ve had Henry David Thoreau the environmentalist, the libertarian, the life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
The Publishing Mystery That No One Wants to Talk About
A minimally speaking autistic man just wrote a best-selling book. Or did he?
The Paradox of Modern Medicine
Testing has become so advanced that doctors now miss important elements of diagnosis.
What To Read
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Eight of the Most Fascinating Biographies to Read
Each is animated by the author’s love—for their subject, for language, and for pushing the boundaries of what the genre can do.
Six Books That Simply Must Be Talked About
These six books demand discussion—with a pal, a date, or a book club.
Nine Books to Reset Your View of the World
Each of these titles will widen your perspective, offering you original insight and vision.
Seven Books to Read When You Have No Time to Read
These titles are worth picking up, even if you have only a moment to spare.
Newsletter
The Books Briefing
Our culture editors’ weekly guide to the best in books.
Subject to The Atlantic's Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
Fiction
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Scars
A short story
Fortunes
A short story
The Honor of the Layward Brothers
A short story
We Are Not One
A short story
Historical Fiction Turns a Life Into a Story
Our day-to-day doesn’t follow an obvious plot. The arc of the past is visible only in hindsight.
An Ode to Being Read To
Bedtime stories aren’t just for children.
The Best Books for a Broken Heart
These titles are genuinely insightful about the pain of heartbreak, but affirm that love remains worth pursuing.
How to Keep Your Book Club From Becoming a Wine Club
Librarians, professors, and literary professionals offer their best advice on how to run a successful group.
How Memes Led to an Insurrection
A president who understood the power of memes was able to send thousands of people into battle against democracy itself.
The Diagnosis Trap
Doctors have their stories to tell about mental illness. But what about the stories we tell ourselves?
The Politics of Pinocchio
With two new adaptations of the classic Italian tale, it’s time to return to the source: a very unusual and dark novel.
Where Our Sense of Self Comes From
How did a group of rebellious German playwrights, poets, and writers in the late 18th century revolutionize the way we think of ourselves and the world?
How Writers Revise the World
Why we retell older stories, and what we gain by doing so: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Ian McEwan’s Anti-Memoir
The author reflects on a charmed life—and all that could have gone wrong.