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
An Autopsy Report on Biden’s In-Office Decline
“Five people were running the country,” a political insider told the authors of the new book Original Sin. “And Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”
24 Books to Get Lost in This Summer
The Atlantic’s writers and editors have chosen fiction and nonfiction to match all sorts of moods.
A Different Way to Think About Medicine’s Most Stubborn Enigma
A new book shows that dementia isn’t just a loss, and memory is much more than recollection.
An Eerily Familiar 20th-Century Hoax
What happened when a mega-famous evangelist went missing?
Infant Longing
A poem
What It Costs to Get the Life You Want
The kind of freedom that Mavis Gallant’s characters seek can still be out of reach.
What to Read to Understand Your Mom
These stories offer a starting point—and perhaps some insights—for those seeking perspective on their parent.
The Not-at-All-Funny Life of Mark Twain
Ron Chernow’s biography dwells more on the wreck of a man than on his sublimely comic work.
How Spying Helped Erode American Trust
Espionage has always been with us, but its rapid growth over the past century raises questions about who we are.
We’re All Living in a Carl Hiaasen Novel
In the mangroves with Florida’s poet of excess and grift