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.
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.
Subject to The Atlantic's Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
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 Island Nation Whose History Reflects America’s
Rich Benjamin’s new book reveals a shared spirit between the world’s first Black republic and the United States.
How Ross Douthat’s Proselytizing Falls Short
The columnist’s new book, Believe, argues for religion from a rational perspective. It won’t make a believer out of me.
The Dangers of Philo-Semitism
In a new book, Pankaj Mishra twists Holocaust remembrance into a source of all the world’s evil. He couldn’t be more wrong.
Bird Strike
A short story
Six Older Books That Deserve to Be Popular Today
In recent years, these titles have found themselves justifiably rescued from oblivion.
Santa Filomena
A poem published in The Atlantic in 1857
Thinking About Divorce in a New Way
Haley Mlotek’s new memoir finds a fresh way to talk about the dissolution of a marriage.
A Novel That Boldly Rethinks the Border
Fernando A. Flores’s fantasia depicts the U.S.-Mexico border of the near future as a site of both exploitation and near-limitless possibilities.
A Divorce Memoir With No Lessons
Haley Mlotek’s new book provides neither catharsis nor remedies for heartache, but rather a tender exploration of human intimacy.
When Robert Frost Was Bad
Before he became America’s most famous poet, he wrote some real howlers.