The Publishing Mystery That No One Wants to Talk About
A minimally speaking autistic man just wrote a best-selling book. Or did he?
Books
Introducing The Atlantic’s expanded books coverage: essays, criticism, fiction, poetry, and recommendations from our writers and editors
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.
The Banality of MAGA-fication
A new book by an unremarkable Republican accidentally illuminates the devolution of the party.
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
The Seinfeld Theory of Fiction
Annoying characters let us admit that we might be annoying too.
Fortunes
A short story
The Honor of the Layward Brothers
A short story
We Are Not One
A short story
Why the Wuthering Heights Movie Is Infantilizing
Everyone is 12 now, all the time.
The Washington Post’s Leaders Missed the Point
The editor of the recently scrapped Book World believes in serving subscribers, not data.
An Extraordinary Account of a Dangerous Marriage
Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir is an astonishingly honest look at her life with a man who did the unthinkable.
Why Nudge Policies Failed
A new book buries the Obama-era idea that small shifts in personal behavior can greatly improve the world.
The Ghosts of Toni Morrison
In a new study, Namwali Serpell describes how the novelist located the missing stories of Black America.
Is Anything Morally Obvious Anymore?
The public reaction to the violence in Minneapolis suggests that we have held on to our sense of universal truths.
The Fine Balance Required of an ‘Authorial Rant’
A cherished grudge might make it into a novel—but the best writers avoid creating books that feel one-sided.
Matt Lauer’s Accuser Complicates Her Story
Brooke Nevils’s memoir is also a reckoning with many misconceptions about #MeToo narratives.
What Spielberg, Lucas, and Coppola Got Right
In revisiting the trio of auteurs who reinvented filmmaking in the 1970s, a new book shows that creativity thrives on collaboration.