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
Our Dramatic Relationship With the Natural World
A 2023 novel that revolved around a character getting lost in the wilderness
When History Doesn’t Do What We Wish It Would
In Ed Park’s new novel, the past is slippery, elusive, and alive.
The Novel That Takes You Inside a Defense Lawyer’s Mind
In Marie NDiaye’s latest, an attorney struggles with the case of a mother accused of infanticide.
The Rise and Fall of the ‘IBM Way’
What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us
Seven Books That Will Make You Rethink Your Relationship to Nature
These titles remind us that our connection to the Earth is inescapable.
What Does the Working Class Really Want?
Vying for its crucial support, neither Democrats nor Republicans are focusing on the essential question.
Weather
A poem for Sunday
The Best Strategy for Late-December Reading
At this time of the year, I try to resist the pressure to be productive.
A Novel That Shows the Dark Side of Utopia
Gabriel Bump’s new book examines the human impulse to build new societies—and to destroy them.
The Atlantic 10
The books that made us think the most this year