Posts

Stabbed in the Convent, Murdered in the Yard

Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste’ Is an ‘Instant American Classic’ About Our Abiding Sin

The ‘Seductive Lure’ of Authoritarianism

Why the Working Class Votes Against Its Economic Interests

New Books Take You Through the Microscope to the World of Pathogens

Monsters vs. Aliens

A Native American Coming-of-Age and the Uses of Enchantment

Raven Leilani, a Flâneur Who Is Going Places

New Books Take You Through the Microscope to the World of Pathogens

New in Paperback: ‘This Land Is Our Land’ and ‘Your House Will Pay’

On Hamlet’s Origins and Other Letters to the Editor

What If You Could Just Program a Robot To Write a Novel?

Trump tried to shut him down, but Robert Mueller was his own worst enemy

12 New Books We Recommend This Week

Isabel Wilkerson Loves Books. That Doesn’t Mean She Treats Them Gently.

Just in time for an updated ‘West Side Story,’ a look back at the 1961 classic

‘Memorial Drive,’ by Natasha Trethewey: An Excerpt

13 Books to Watch For in August

In ‘Memorial Drive’ a Poet Evokes Her Childhood and Confronts Her Mother’s Murder

Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman Wrote a Big Best Seller

New Looks at the Fate of Foreigners in America, From the Privileged to the Most Vulnerable

In R.L. Maizes’s ‘Other People’s Pets,’ an aspiring veterinarian turns to a life of crime

A writer spent years reading only the work of Jane Austen. She learned a lot about herself.

Washington Post paperback bestsellers

In turbulent times, culling my book collection gave me the illusion of control. Then the dilemmas began multiplying.

The Essential Tana French

His Family Misses Him. But Did They Ever Really Know Him?

In Yiyun Li’s Latest, a Grieving Mother Desperately Clings to Memory

Time for a Literary Road Trip

New & Noteworthy Poetry, From a Hungry God to a Fake Shepherd

A Forgotten Town at the Center of the Manhattan Project

‘Afterland,’ by Lauren Beukes: An Excerpt

A Métis Woman’s Husband Disappeared — or Did He?

The Chinese Town That Became the Self-Immolation Capital of the World

Why the United States Invaded Iraq

Why Is Hillary Clinton So Hated?

These Celebrities Can Change Your Life

Staring Into the Eye of a Whale and Seeing the Whole World

Aimee Bender’s Latest Is a Proustian Reverie

This Movie Star’s Only Hope Is Help From Her Personal Assistant

The Groundbreaking Scientist Who Risked All in Pursuit of His Beliefs

Trying the Japanese for War Crimes

Hilary Mantel and Anne Tyler in Running for Booker Prize

‘Memorial Drive’ Powerfully Recalls a Southern Childhood and a Mother’s Murder

The Celebrity Bookshelf Detective Is Back

Yes, Fake News Is a Problem. But There’s a Real News Problem, Too.

Brad Watson, 64, Dies; His Southern Upbringing Animated His Books

A Guide to Nordic Noir

Bring Your Flamethrower. In This Novel, Art Feels the Burn.

The Yearning for the Unexplained