Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined
What 1984 means today
Book Review
A Novel That Weighs the Costs of Love and Motherhood
In Patsy, Nicole Dennis-Benn wrestles with the conflicting demands of family and autonomy for an undocumented woman in New York City.
Female Spies and Their Secrets
An old-boy operation was transformed by women during World War II, and at last the unsung upstarts are getting their due.
Eat Food. All the Time. Mostly Junk.
How the “food revolution” turned us into snackers, guaranteeing the demise of healthy home cooking
Trust Exercise Is an Elaborate Trick of a Novel
Susan Choi’s taut, drama-school narrative asks: Where does art end and reality begin?
Science Fiction’s Preoccupation With Privacy
Two ambitious new novels build techno-futures in which surveillance offers disturbing new threats.
The Lost Art of Deadline Writing
A new anthology of sportswriting celebrates the poetry written in the press box.
Art After Sexual Assault
Siri Hustvedt’s new novel explores fiction’s role in feminist consciousness-raising.
A Gilded Cage
A daughter explores the dark secrets of a family legacy.
The Indelible Awfulness of E. L. James’s The Mister
The author’s follow-up to her Fifty Shades series is hopelessly retrograde and dismally unentertaining.