Scars
A short story
What To Read
The First Draft of Cultural History
Lena Dunham’s new memoir is a fascinating primary source of Hollywood in the 2010s.
If You Want a Better World, Act Like You Live in It
We’ve had Henry David Thoreau the environmentalist, the libertarian, the life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
The Publishing Mystery That No One Wants to Talk About
A minimally speaking autistic man just wrote a best-selling book. Or did he?
Scars
A short story
Fortunes
A short story
The Honor of the Layward Brothers
A short story
We Are Not One
A short story
Eight Books That Reevaluate American History
In these recent works, Black innovations and labor receive the prominence they deserve in popular narratives.
Can a Self-Help Book Really Change Your Life?
The genre promises easy fixes for intractable problems, but some conflicts can’t be solved by individuals alone: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Cookbooks Are About More Than Just Food Now
The new ethos of recipe collections elevates them beyond how-to manuals: Your weekly guide to the best in books
How to Tell a War Story
To make sense of bloodshed, writers turn to different genres: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Eight Books That Explain the South
The southern travelogue is a genre with a long history. These examples helped me write my own.
The Problem With the Genius Myth
The label erases the complication and collaboration that are central to the artistic process: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Feeling Bad? Read These Books to Feel Better.
Wallowing in our worst moods can be enthralling, and even educational.
Poetry Lets Us Remember—And Move On
Where to turn when your emotions call for something other than straightforward prose: Your weekly guide to the best in books
Working It Out on the Page
Writers explore exercise and their relationship to it: Your weekly guide to the best in books
15 Books You Won’t Regret Rereading
Years after these titles were popular, they’re still worth picking up.