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
AAAAdam
A poem for Sunday
The Great American Poet Who Was Named After a Slave Ship
A new biography of Phillis Wheatley places her in her era and shows the ways she used poetry to criticize the existence of slavery.
A Memoir About Friendship and Mental Illness
A Q&A with Jonathan Rosen, whose new book, The Best Minds, delves into a fraught friendship and the societal response to schizophrenia
The Trap of Celebrity
It’s not easy to balance a carefully planned public image with authentic vulnerability—even the most open stars have to think about their narrative: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Seven Books to Read as a Family
A strong title can do more than entertain—it can also provoke, challenge, educate, or soothe.
Marco Antonio
A poem for Wednesday
A History of Humanity in Which Humans Are Secondary
A new book tells the story of our past from the perspective of the bugs that have shaped it.
Philosophy’s Big Oversight
If the discipline is concerned with the nature of human existence, then a canon dominated by men isn’t just incomplete—it’s distorted.
The Empty Promise of Good Intentions
Even when motives are pure, altruism is too often insufficient: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Seven Celebrities Who Published Actually Great Memoirs
A tell-all is worth picking up when the star has an honest, grounded perspective on their life.