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
Another White Male Writer
A poem for Wednesday
Eight Self-Help Books That Actually Help
These titles are challenging where others are pandering, and open-minded where others are prescriptive.
Jacob and Esau
A poem for Sunday
Rethinking the European Conquest of Native Americans
In a new book by Pekka Hämäläinen, a picture emerges of a four-century-long struggle for primacy among Native power centers in North America.
Why Travel Inspires So Many Writers
Journeys force us to consider where we’re headed and what we’ve left behind: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Will Children’s Books Become Catalogs of the Extinct?
As an environmental journalist and a parent, I worry that the animals in my son’s bedtime stories will disappear before he learns they’re real.
Eight Books to Comfort You When You’re Lonely
Reading may not be a salve for loneliness, but there’s nothing like the rush of being seen by literature.
A Black Birch in Winter
Published in The Atlantic in 1974
Remembering the Strange Dream of Lockdown New York
It took a pandemic to imagine a more humane city.
What’s Wrong With Following a Recipe?
On recipes, spontaneity, and time: Your weekly guide to the best in books