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.
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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
My Ancestors Ride Wit Me
A poem for Sunday
Let’s Never Do This to Edith Wharton Again
The writer’s deeply emotional architecture is made dully explicit in a new adaptation of The Buccaneers.
What a Classical-Music Critic Reads
Anthony Tommasini, the former chief classical-music critic for The New York Times, recommends books and music.
A Masterful Depiction of Male Cruelty
For decades, Claire Keegan has been exploring the shabby way the world treats women.
My New Coat
A poem for Wednesday
Beware Populist Politicians Who Threaten to Kill
A country that once peacefully ousted a dictator chose a murderous autocrat as its leader.
The Case for Challenging Music
Why in classical contemporary music do so many people equate challenging with intimidating—or even infuriating?
Port Authority
A poem for Sunday
The Tyranny of Stuff
The letters of Seamus Heaney reveal that he was bedeviled by the same problem that overwhelms all of us.
Six Books That Might Change How You Think About Mental Illness
These individual, honest narratives can help dislodge oversimplifications about mental health.