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.
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
An Oblique and Beautiful Book
The Children’s Bach is a striking picture of how ravaged a life can be when unmoored from any responsibility, and of how necessary it is to take care of others.
The Country That Tried to Control Sex
Clair Wills’s memoir is a timely warning that sexual morality can be enforced only with violence.
Six Cult Classics You Have to Read
As word of mouth about a book spreads, it begins to spark with a special kind of electricity.
A Child’s-Eye View of 1970s Debauchery
The brilliant novels of Helen Garner depict her generation’s embrace of freedom, but also the sad consequences.
Our Last Great Adventure
My husband, Richard Goodwin, drafted landmark speeches for JFK and LBJ. Late in life, we dived into his archives, searching for vivid traces of our hopeful youth.
Half Moon, Small Cloud
Published in The Atlantic in 2006
Feminism, Womanhood, and Celebrity
The books Sophie Gilbert turns to while writing
What Orwell Really Feared
In 1946, the author repaired to the remote Isle of Jura and wrote his masterpiece, 1984. What was he looking for?
A Vision of the City as a Live Organism
In this novel, Prague is impish, tyrannical—and alive.
Seven Books to Read in the Sunshine
Enjoying literature at a park, a beach, or an open-air café encourages a particular leisurely frame of mind.