James Fenimore Cooper reveals “deeply hidden truths” about the American Revolution
John Updike, Pennsylvania, and “the matter of America”
The War Before the War: Andrew Delbanco on fugitive slaves and the fragility of the American Republic
Four books—and a flawed Everyman—that made John Updike’s name as a novelist
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom recasts the life of one of our major literary figures
From “lovelorn, insecure young man” to resolute commander—the private side of Ulysses S. Grant
Lisa Yaszek: We get the history of women in science fiction “thoroughly wrong”
Leonard S. Marcus on Madeleine L’Engle, the “fearless experimenter” of children’s literature
“Monsters lurk everywhere”: Sarah Weinman uncovers the real-life crime behind Nabokov’s Lolita
The first rule of Fight Club: Violence in Congress and the road to civil war
New biography of Madeleine L’Engle by her granddaughters is a “journey of becoming”
Brad Gooch: Flannery O’Connor’s apocalyptic tall tales “give us the news that we need to hear”
Terrence Rafferty: Elmore Leonard’s West is “an idea of the West”
The novels and poetry of Albert Murray: “He is beyond category”
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the “iconic piece of literature” that changed the way we think of the world
Michelle Dean’s Sharp celebrates ten women writers who did it their way