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
Fathers Don’t Just Protect—They Prepare
My grandfather helped his family survive in Nazi-occupied Austria. What his story taught me about fatherhood.
The Benefits of Refusing
Melissa Febos’s The Dry Season made me wonder what narrow portals I’m looking through in my life, and what I might see if I turn away from them.
Seven Books for People Figuring Out Their Next Move
These titles are great tools for anyone trying to navigate new opportunities, new places, or new phases of life.
Weepers
A short story
How One Animal Divided Europe
A new book explores what the wolf’s return to the continent means for people who have never known its presence.
What to Read When You’re Ready to Say No
Purposeful refusal, far from depriving us, can make way for unexpected bounty.
The Real Message Behind Les Misérables
As Donald Trump prepares to host Les Mis at the Kennedy Center, a Victor Hugo scholar imagines what the author would make of the president.
Fast Times and Mean Girls
What the great teen movies tell us about American adolescence
An Innocent Abroad in Mark Twain’s Paris
My quest for a true literary experience resulted in choucroute, a surprise organ feast, an epiphany at the Louvre, existential dread, and a rowboat.