What to Read to Understand Your Mom
These stories offer a starting point—and perhaps some insights—for those seeking perspective on their parent.
Latest
Cheryle St. Onge What Kind of Questions Did 17th-Century Daters Have?
Advice columns have always appealed to people’s perennial confusion about love and marriage.
Illustration by Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Sources: Nastasic / Getty; clu / Getty. The Life of the Mind Can Only Get You So Far
Michelle de Kretser’s intellectual coming-of-age explores the fissures between one’s ideals and reality.
Illustration by Vanessa Woods A Biting Satire of the Art World’s Monstrousness
Ella Baxter’s new novel explores why creative genius so often seems to be at odds with being a good person.
Illustration by Millie von Platen The Enduring Fascination With Women in Water
Female swimmers have always challenged the boundary between sport and spectacle.
Cristina Garcia Rodero / Magnum What Do Crossword Puzzles Really Test?
In her new book, Anna Shechtman argues for puzzles that reflect a broader sense of common knowledge.
Illustration by Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Source: Getty. Love Is Magic—And Also Hormones
Scientific inquiry is an attempt at illumination, not an act of desecration.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. Philosophy’s Big Oversight
If the discipline is concerned with the nature of human existence, then a canon dominated by men isn’t just incomplete—it’s distorted.
Illustration by Matt Chase / The Atlantic. Sources: Getty; “Mary Wollstonecraft,” John Opie, 1790–91. Beware the ‘Storification’ of the Internet
We all need a lesson in close reading and a dose of skepticism—especially online.
Ben Hickey Six Books That Music Lovers Should Read
Because music is uniquely tied up with memory, the best writing about it inevitably gets personal.
Getty / The Atlantic
