Lauren Oyler on the Drama of Swiping and Scrolling
“You could say conspiracy theories are like bad fiction, which attempts to tie everything up and explain it all.”
The Man Without a Country
Donald Trump was America’s first stateless president.
The Books Briefing: The Propulsive Power of Desire
Lustful monologues, youthful longings, and “unruly appetites”: Your weekly guide to the best in books
What the Living Do
A poem by Marie Howe, published in The Atlantic in 1994
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 Real Legacy of the Suffrage Movement
The cause produced undaunted trailblazers, Black and white, who continued to pursue social reform.
Life on Earth
A poem for Sunday
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
Uncovering the Cultural Revolution’s Awful Truths
Rebel historians chronicle a past that the Chinese Communist Party grows ever more intent on erasing.
The Singular Achievement of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
No spy novel has captured England—or the human capacity for duplicity—like John le Carré’s hunt for the mole.
How Civilization Broke Our Brains
What can hunter-gatherer societies teach us about work, time, and happiness?
The Books Briefing: What Stories About Immigration Reveal About America
The beauty of fragmented, incomplete narratives: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Shanghai Murmur
A short story
Desiring the Unattainable in Shanghai
Te-Ping Chen discusses the gift of imagining alternative realities in a society divided by class.
The Legacy of a Comic Master
In Inside Story, Martin Amis's final novel, the comic master delights, infuriates, and secures his legacy.
Pharaoh
A poem by Lucia Perillo, published in The Atlantic in 2010
The Books Briefing: Reimagining Womanhood
Writers who expanded the definitions of femininity: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Against Heaven
A poem for Sunday
The ‘Great Man’ Theory of American Food
The prolific cookbook author James Beard helped shape the nation’s culinary identity—for better and for worse.