A World Without Martin Amis
The small, cold shock of loneliness upon hearing of the great British comic writer’s death
Masculinity
A poem for Sunday
Can We Really Know the Figures of the Past?
Turning history into a juicy story is a risky endeavor: Your weekly guide to the best in books
My Novel Is a Love Letter My Mother Can’t Read
The language barrier between us has never felt more acute.
A Week Later
Published in The Atlantic in 2002
The Billionaires Who Are Threatening Democracy
In his new book, the historian Quinn Slobodian writes about the ideologues who believe that society should prioritize capital, not people.
Masha Gessen Resigns in Protest From PEN America Board
What happens when free-speech absolutists flinch
The Defining Emotion of Modern Life
Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow captures grief in all its forms.
Writing in the Ruins
The German writer Jenny Erpenbeck cuts through dogma, fractures time, and preserves rubble.
Life List
A poem for Sunday
A Better Way of Buying—And Wanting—Things
A new book argues that we should honor our material desires rather than feeling ashamed of them.
How to Write About a Changing World
As the new ecological status quo emerges, we’ll all need to rethink our place on the planet: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Who Was Cleopatra’s Daughter?
The perils of searching for feminist heroes in antiquity
A Force That Has Shaped the History of the World
In his sweeping new book, Peter Frankopan looks at how the climate has changed human society—and how we have changed the climate.
Surrender to Steely Dan
How the insufferably perfectionist duo captured the hearts of a new generation of listeners
What Authors Know About the Power of Words
Our means of communication are changing rapidly: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Why Our Children Should Be More Demanding, Not Less
A new book argues that children are disenfranchised citizens whose basic needs are being ignored.
A Novel in Which Language Hits Its Limit—And Keeps On Going
In Han Kang’s Greek Lessons, words are both insufficient and too powerful to tame.
A Rom-Com That Seduces the Old-Fashioned Way
Curtis Sittenfeld’s new novel masterfully dissects a well-worn genre.
Nostrand and Lincoln
A poem for Wednesday