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
A Western That Goes Where Cormac McCarthy Wouldn’t
Álvaro Enrigue’s Now I Surrender scraps the simplistic binary of cowboys and Indians in favor of a wild, multifaceted war story.
Why Iranians Are Weeping for a Tyrant
Both loyalists and dissidents wept over the death of Ayatollah Khamenei. This common reaction to a tyrant’s demise is a symptom of the damage they do.
A Novel About a Secret No One Wants to Know
The wildly popular Norwegian novelist Vigdis Hjorth returns to a dark past.
Literature Has a Stay-at-Home-Dad Problem
Unemployable, emasculated, blundering: In novels, full-time fathers seem to always be falling short.
French 75
A poem
How to Put Sex in a Novel
In a new book, intimate fantasies become a crucial vehicle for character development.
The Ruthless Benevolence of a Great Editor
Ann Godoff, who died this week, cared passionately about her writers—and much less about her own ego.
The Reckless Women Who Changed Journalism
Two new books demonstrate how Martha Gellhorn, Janet Flanner, and other reporters took journalism in directions that men could not.
When Did Literature Get Less Dirty?
A puritan strain is manifesting in realist novels as a marked absence of straight sex.
Nine Books to Reset Your View of the World
Each of these titles will widen your perspective, offering you original insight and vision.