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
How to Get Inside of History
An archive’s collection can reconstruct moments in the past: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Problem With Mothers and Daughters
In new books, the writers Elizabeth McCracken and Lynne Tillman look back at the fraught ends of their mothers’ lives.
How to Avoid the ‘White Savior Industrial Complex’
A missionary in turn-of-the-century Persia gave up his privilege and became a force for good.
Look
A poem for Wednesday
The Secret of How We Move
Two new books show that movement helps us see the rhythms we all share—whether in the angular works of Martha Graham or in the natural choreographies of daily life.
The Trap
What it takes to make it in hip-hop’s new capital
Chrystie Street
A poem for Sunday
Oliver Munday on Expression and Transgression
“The simple answer is that graffiti infuses art and expression with transgression. The danger inherent to the act is addictive.”
You Can Read Any of These Short Novels in a Weekend
These books may be brief, but they use their limited word count to demonstrate the power of concision.
One of the Bravest Things a Book Can Do
Writers are uniquely able to uncover—and condemn—a country’s troubles: Your weekly guide to the best in books