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
Outdoor Day
A poem for Wednesday
Five Books That’ll Fit Right Into Your Busy Schedule
These essay and short-story collections are easy to read at your own pace.
The Psychic Toll of Class Mobility
Domenico Starnone explores the cost of familial estrangement.
For the Lichens
Published in The Atlantic in 2011
When Domestic Life Is Like a Horror Story
An astonishing new novel captures the dichotomy at the heart of housework.
A Manual for Surviving History
For the Shanghai-born writer Eileen Chang, observation was a way of life.
The Juicy Secrets of Everyday Life
Eileen Chang’s slyly observant essays about day-to-day realities double as a manual for surviving history.
What to Read When You Want to Reimagine Family
These books offer a wide set of perspectives on what kinship can be, and on the endless ways we might create it.
The Posting
A short story
Sara Freeman on How Marriages Implode
“One could argue that contained in every marriage is the possibility of its implosion, the DNA of its demise.”