Eight of the Most Fascinating Biographies to Read
Each is animated by the author’s love—for their subject, for language, and for pushing the boundaries of what the genre can do.
What To Read
Books
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Is Cohabitation the Feminist Future?
Stories about women living together are proliferating—and offering alternative visions to the nuclear family.
Peter Hujar’s Photos Are All the Rage. He’d Be Shocked.
A new biography brings the late photographer’s relationship with the artist Paul Thek to vivid life.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
Fiction
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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 Books Briefing: Overlooked Stories of Black American Life
American history, Black life, and the resilience of memory: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: Murder, They Wrote
Crime fiction is having a moment right now: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: Presidential Biographies—And Presidential Mythologies
Books that influence how complicated political figures are remembered: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: Humor, Mined From the Absurd
Times are dark. Laughter can provide a respite: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: The Propulsive Power of Desire
Lustful monologues, youthful longings, and “unruly appetites”: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: The Best Books of 2020
Our favorite titles from a year that has highlighted the particularities of that thing called reading: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The 15 Best Books of 2020
The memoirs, novels, and poetry that stood out most
The Books Briefing: The Novel Life of Jesus Christ
Why the enigmatic character of Christ sparks the imagination of religious and nonreligious writers alike: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: What Stories About Immigration Reveal About America
The beauty of fragmented, incomplete narratives: Your weekly guide to the best in books
The Books Briefing: Reimagining Womanhood
Writers who expanded the definitions of femininity: Your weekly guide to the best in books