The Dharma of Working Out
In her new memoir, Alison Bechdel runs, climbs, bikes, skis, spins, and Soloflexes her way toward transcendence.
Book Review
On Rape Narratives and the Surprising Value of Plot
Why literary novels about wrenching events are taking more and more cues from crime writing
What Grief Tastes Like
Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart shows the possibilities and limitations of the food memoir.
Don’t Underrate the Political Spouse
How Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan advanced their husbands’ ambitions—and their own
The True Costs and Benefits of Fracking
New York is getting more out of the domestic oil boom than North Dakota ever will.
The Awful Wisdom of the Hostage
What a new memoir reveals about endurance—and extreme remorse
When Did Following Recipes Become a Personal Failure?
Sam Sifton’s exciting, but daunting, invitation to improvise
The Relentless Philip Roth
In his life as in his fiction, the author pursued the shameful, the libidinous, the repellent.
The Radiant Inner Life of a Robot
Kazuo Ishiguro returns to masters and servants with a story of love between a machine and the girl she belongs to.
What Happened to Jordan Peterson?
Adored guru and reviled provocateur, he dropped out of sight. Now the irresistible ordeal of modern cultural celebrity has brought him back.