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.
Books
Introducing The Atlantic’s expanded books coverage: essays, criticism, fiction, poetry, and recommendations from our writers and editors
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 Does Lena Dunham Want to Tell Us?
Her new memoir captures the cost of being an impossibly popular target.
The Eighth Deadly Sin
Humankind has devised a new form of debasement.
What To Read
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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.
Six Books You Can Get Lost In
These novels highlight the power—both good and bad—of unchecked fantasizing.
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 Electric Feeling of Summer Romance
Ruby Opalka’s “Spit,” a new short story in The Atlantic, captures the intensity of young love.
When Victimhood Takes a Bad-Faith Turn
Wronged explores how the practice of claiming harm has become the rhetorical province of the powerful.
Poem With the Last Line as the First
For Sunday
Go Ahead, Put Down That Book
There’s no reason to agonize over the titles you don’t finish.
Who’s Normal Now?
At the convention, Democrats are working to reclaim the flip side of weird.
When Is It Okay to Not Finish a Book?
How to decide to put down a book—without all the angst
When Wellness Can’t Bring Happiness
A provocative 1970s novel reads like a contemporary cry for freedom from the expectations of others.
Shore Birds
Published in The Atlantic in 1998
Why Some #MeToo Fiction Puts Men Center Stage
Mary Gaitskill’s 2019 novella, This Is Pleasure, makes readers consider whether including male voices can help us understand women’s stories.
A Vision of England Today, Dark and Rotten
With Andrew O’Hagan’s new book, the British state-of-the-nation novel gets an update.