The Time Is Right for a ‘Great Books’ Revival
To build a better world in the age of AI, students need grounding in indispensable ideas.
Books
Introducing The Atlantic’s expanded books coverage: essays, criticism, fiction, poetry, and recommendations from our writers and editors
He Was Hugely Influential. He Also Had a Foolish Streak.
A recent biography of the writer John Berger reminds us about his hefty influence—and how he could be blinkered by his convictions.
Forget Grit
Even the luminaries of the self-help genre have begun to recognize how little in life we can actually control.
How American Girl Doll Lost Its Way
At 40, the brand faces a midlife crisis.
Democrats Are Sounding More Like Republicans
Why politicians are betting on ever more moralizing language
What To Read
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50 Unforgettable Love Stories
Centuries of joyous, tragic, tantalizing, enduring fiction
Six Hard-to-Find Books Worth Reading
These titles are no longer fashionable, if they ever were—but should you manage to read one, you might love it.
What to Read to Wake Up Your Brain
These books can ease readers into a season of work and hard thinking.
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Six Books That Take You to Space
You won’t even have to leave your couch.
Newsletter
The Books Briefing
Our culture editors’ weekly guide to the best in books.
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Fiction
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The Guardians
A short story
Disunion
A short story
I Heard You Singing
A short story
The Wisdom of Holden Caulfield
Beneath all the alienation, The Catcher in the Rye, which turns 75 this year, has a surprisingly hopeful—and ethical—outlook.
What Very Different Places Have in Common
Gary Shteyngart finds the universal in Cape Town.
Sondheim’s Confessions
A recently published book casts doubt on the composer’s insistence that his enduring musicals were never autobiographical.
The Seinfeld Theory of Fiction
Annoying characters let us admit that we might be annoying too.
The Basic Drive That Humans Might Be Losing
In a time of AI sex and looksmaxxing, a new book calls on humans to rediscover intimacy.
The City Where Coetzee Is God
Searching for the Nobel laureate in Cape Town, the city he left behind
A New Direction for the Trans Novel
Jordy Rosenberg’s Night Night Fawn is autofiction told from a sidelong distance.
The College-Educated Working Class
Can a generation of graduates frustrated by their economic prospects change American labor politics?
JOAN
A poem
The Last Days of Franco
Montserrat Roig’s classic novel captures Barcelona on the cusp of unimaginable change.