How American Girl Doll Lost Its Way
At 40, the brand faces a midlife crisis.
Book Review
A Novel That Turns the Tables on AI
Joanna Kavenna’s book about the battle of man versus machine is both funny and deadly serious.
Good Villains Are Hard to Come By. This One’s Great.
A fascinating new novel pits a small Appalachian community against a very online foe.
The Journalist and the Manipulator
Janet Malcolm policed the literary ruses of others, but wasn’t afraid to deploy them herself.
Those Books of Smut and Wonder
How Sarah J. Maas became the queen of romantasy
Zombie Originalism
Samuel Alito’s efforts to revamp the conservative legal philosophy reveal that a new movement is ascendant.
A Diagnosis for Social Conflict That Gets Lost Along the Way
A new book suggests that arguing isn’t about winning but seems preoccupied with it anyway.
What Comes After America
Emily St. John Mandel’s latest work of science fiction considers the tenuousness of any possible future.
Cormac McCarthy’s Midlife Crisis
Heading west at 40 transformed his writing—and American literature.
Roy Cohn Did It First
The debasement of American politics didn’t start with Donald Trump.