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
See All
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
What Is It About Pamela Anderson?
The model and actor drove men wild. She’s still enduring the consequences.
The Police Can Be Reformed. These Two Books Lay Out How.
In the aftermath of Tyre Nichols’s killing, it’s easy to despair. But two new books show how police departments can alter their behavior.
America’s Byron
Remembering the poet and novelist James Dickey on his centennial
A New Way to Read Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald never explicitly states Jay Gatsby’s race.
Did George Washington Burn New York?
Americans disparaged the British as arsonists. But the rebels fought with fire too.
The Miraculous Salman Rushdie
His enchanting new novel is a triumph.
Background
A short story
Elaine Hsieh Chou on the Ethics of ‘Trauma Porn’
“If you are retraumatizing the very audience a piece of media is supposedly for, can it really be for them?”
What Kids Learn From Hard Conversations
Talking with children about painful topics can be complicated—but it can help shape their worldview for life.