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
Where Does It Go
A poem for Sunday
Marilynne Robinson Makes the Book of Genesis New
In her hands, scripture becomes a precursor to the novel.
What Adults Forget About Reading
Why my daughters love rereading Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novels
A Big-Box-Store Allegory
A satirist of literary Brooklyn now explores life in an upstate shopping warehouse.
Six Books About Winter as It Once Was
These titles remind us of the season’s long-established joys and its necessary quiet, even as the climate changes.
Happiness
A poem for Wednesday
‘The Magic of Raina Is Real’
How the cartoonist Raina Telgemeier, the author of Smile, Sisters, and Guts, turned the anxious kid into a hero for the 21st century
The Books That Helped Me Adjust to a Big City
When I moved to D.C., I turned to reading to help me understand the history, and the spirit, of my new home.
Living Through the End of California
In a new book, Manjula Martin faces up to the way the altered environment of her home state will change her life forever.
Eight Novels That Truly Capture City Life
Only some of these titles tell happy stories, but they are all reminders of what is possible in metropolises.