A Substitution
A short story
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh on the Performance of Fiction
“There’s no one the fiction writer can hide behind.”
Beware the Luxury Beach Resort
These ostensible paradises have a dark side.
The Organization of Your Bookshelves Tells Its Own Story
The complexity of the human heart can be expressed in the arrangement of one’s books.
Byron, Shelley, and Now Zelensky
To appreciate the special power of the Ukrainian president, we need to listen closely to his words, and remember the inspiring poets who came before him.
Where Russia’s Declinist Rage Isn’t Enough
An ex-Soviet state’s national myths—as well as the forces of nationalism, economics, culture, and religion—all pull it away from Moscow. Can Russia really compete?
The Book That Captures My Life as a Dad
Abbott Awaits makes the everyday aspects of parenting objects of tender observation.
The Awkward Intimacy of Therapy
The practice may require vulnerability, but being heard can bring healing: Your weekly guide to the best in books
What If All Men Disappeared and the World Was Just Boring?
A new feminist utopian novel imagines a world without men. The problem is they’re never really gone.
The Book That Never Stops Changing
What I’ve learned about Dublin, and myself, in a lifetime of reading Ulysses
The Books Swallowed by the Black Hole of the Coronavirus
Some spectacular titles had the terrible luck of being released in early 2020. They still deserve our attention.
Ajar
A poem by A. E. Stallings, published in The Atlantic in 2014
Life, Literature, This Moment of June
The allure and the friction of city life are never clearer than they are in the summer: Your weekly guide to the best in books
White Author, Black Paragons
When writing across cultural divides flattens characters
Want to Understand Socrates and Sartre? Talk With Your Kid.
A new book asks us to consider that children might have a natural aptitude for grappling with our deepest philosophical questions.
Why ‘The Watergate Three’ Are Remembered as a Duo
Doing great journalism requires an infrastructure, including a lot of talented people who don’t get bylines. Barry Sussman—the Watergate journalist named neither “Woodward” nor “Bernstein”—was one.
The Thin Line Between Sickness and Health
Nine books that helped me reframe my relationship to viruses, the most abundant biological entity on Earth
Our First Encounter With T. Rex
A new book looks at the Gilded Age discovery of the prehistoric monster and the money and egos that have driven the search for dinosaur bones ever since.
Why Is Dad So Mad?
A father dares to explore his rage.
The Past Still Needs Me
A poem for Sunday