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 Should We Teach the Story of Our Country?
Book bans and restrictive laws are threatening to warp the version of American history that kids learn in school: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Book
The Florida governor’s long-ignored 2011 work, Dreams From Our Founding Fathers, reveals a distinct vision of American history and how it should influence the present.
There You Are
A poem for Wednesday
What to Read to Come to Terms With Death
These titles can help us accept our limitations and live full lives.
The Body’s River
A poem for Sunday
The Wholly Human Art of Poetry
What truly elevates verse is not just what we write but also what inspires us to write it: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?
A new report suggests what some have long suspected: One of the world’s most famous poets may have been murdered.
Ben Okri on Manipulating Reality
“Reality is all we have to work with, but we don’t really know what it is.”
The Book That Exposed Anti-Black Racism in the Classroom
As African American studies faces resistance, a conversation about the continued relevance of Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book, The Mis-education of the Negro
What Poets Know That ChatGPT Doesn’t
There’s a reason the AI writes pretty awful verse.