Kamala Harris’s Political Memoir Is an Uneasy Fit for the Digital Era
The senator’s new book shows the difficulty of translating short-form virality into a substantive text.
Book Review
Debussy’s Radical Search for Simplicity
A biography published 100 years after the composer’s death reveals the worldly trials of an artist known for his airy fantasies.
Fairy Tales for Young Socialists
A collection of political fables from late-19th- and early-20th-century Great Britain offers striking allegories that remain pertinent today.
The 19 Best Books of 2018
Highlights from a year of reading, including Ada Limón’s The Carrying, Tommy Orange’s There There, Madeline Miller’s Circe, and more
The Irony of Modern Feminism’s Obsession With Ruth Bader Ginsburg
A new biography squares the decorous legal figure with the feminist gladiator.
Sam Lipsyte’s Lame Send-up of a Guru and His Acolytes
In Hark, the characters are distracted, and their author veers between satire and sincerity.
Riveting Stories About Restless Wanderers
Chris Power’s debut collection, Mothers, reveals that maternity is an unsettling journey.
The Language the Poet Knows
A new collection of essays attempts to lend some objective shape to a timeless-seeming challenge: the ongoing balance of voice and form.
The Haunting Last Letters of Sylvia Plath
As tragedy approaches, she is stricken, broken—and at the height of her artistic powers.
The Tragedy of Electronic Music
Future Sounds, a new book on the history of machine-made pop and classical songs, suggests that the radical power of the synthetic has largely been forgotten.