Louis Menand’s new book traces the decline of a defining ideal.

Amid the waning of the humanities, Said turned out to be one of the last literary scholars with a public presence.

Why does “Klara and the Sun” serve up its big questions so explicitly?

This portrait of the privileged scion as a crack addict helps explain his father’s odd appeal.

The new HBO series based on Alissa Nutting’s novel is a futuristic, surreal take on an unhealthy relationship.

Bacon’s contradictions make him the rare artist who warrants an infatuated 900-page biography.

Why did “A Brief History of Time” make its author the most famous scientist in the world?

On the role of criticism in the end times

The immense power of Jeff Bezos’s empire reveals a country that has been falling apart for quite some time.

How the master of suspense got his sadistic streak

Heavy industry once drove Pittsburgh’s economy. Now health care does—but without the same hard-won benefits.

At the peak of her fame, she exuded total control on screen. According to her new memoir, a different story played out behind the scenes.

Jonathan Cohn’s new book shows how narrowly health care reform passed—and how far we are from universal coverage.

In her poems and “The Cancer Journals,” Lorde fought to name her experience.

How thought leaders resurrected the myth of a carefree prehistoric lifestyle

Megan Nolan’s novel is a compulsive story of desire, subservience, and self-annihiliation.

Her new documentary, “Dancing With the Devil,” is a masterclass in owning the narrative.

A new HBO documentary investigates the first family of QAnon

The novelist wanted his biography to settle scores. It has badly backfired.