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.
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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
The Least-Known Rock God
A new biography of the Velvet Underground founder, Lou Reed, considers the stark duality of the man and his music.
This Week in Books: My 10-Year-Old Adores The Iliad
A new translation of the epic poem plunges us into the world of the ancient Greeks.
Comedians Only Care About Comedy
A new book cured me of any attachment to the idea of the stand-up as truth-telling philosophe.
The Nobel Winner Whose Writing Speaks to Everyone
Jon Fosse’s English translator on the author’s evocation of peacefulness
How to Thrive in a Dying World
C Pam Zhang’s new novel is a bold encouragement to pursue one’s desires.
A Gory Amalgam of Truth and Spectacle
Trumpism hovers over the merger of the UFC and WWE.
The Greatest Invention in the History of Humanity
The very reason we’ve managed to succeed as a species is gynecology.
The Smartest Man Who Ever Lived
A novelist transforms the physicist John von Neumann into a scientific demon.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘I Worry That What We’re Looking at Is the End of Curiosity’
The author of Americanah explains why freedom of expression is crucial to writers.
Daniel Clowes Is Ready to Face the Truth
The cartoonist has written some of the great haters, slackers, and screwups in modern comics. His new graphic novel imagines if one of them grew up.