In The July/August 2009 IssueBooks Let’s Call the Whole Thing OffThe author is ending her marriage. Isn’t it time you did the same? By Sandra Tsing Loh. 
Books Lincoln’s EmancipationThe cruelty and degeneracy the future president was subjected to in his youth forged his iron will. By Christopher Hitchens.
Books Cover to CoverA slacker’s miscellany; the long-haul lobby; wuthering Wordsworths; Vishnu anew; and more.
Editor's Choice California DreamersThe latest volume of Kevin Starr’s history chronicles the triumph—and points toward the tragedy—of the Golden State’s Good Life. By Benjamin Schwarz. |
Featured Archive Content
Classic ReviewsOriginal Atlantic reviews of classic books. How did The Atlantic review Charles Dickens's Great Expectations in 1861? What did the magazine have to say about Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in 1958?...
Word ImperfectSimon Winchester considers the legacy and the fate of Roget's Thesaurus, once considered one of our great linguistic achievements—but now at risk of obsolescence. (May 2001)
A Reader's ManifestoB. R. Myers attacks the growing pretentiousness of American literary prose. (July 2001)
The Author HimselfBefore he became president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson wrote this essay about the richness of world literature and books that "have the flavor of immortality." (September 1891)
Flashbacks: Mark Twain in The Atlantic MonthlyThe story of Twain's association with The Atlantic, and a sampling of his writings.
The Buying of Books (February 1922)"Sometimes, when I have bought a book that I did not need and am a little ashamed to go home, I make an inscription in it: 'To my dear wife, upon her birthday...'" |
Recently in the Atlantic
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Books Hemingway's Libidinous FeastIn a restored edition of a great classic, sexual anxiety looms large. By Christopher Hitchens.
Books Touched by EvilThe real spiritual drama in Flannery O’Connor’s fiction was even darker than the one she acknowledged. By Joseph O’Neill.
Books The Passion of Alec BaldwinThe blustering actor’s memoir of divorce is really a love letter to his daughter. By Caitlin Flanagan.
Books Hitler's Co-ConspiratorsNew histories reveal that the Nazi Regime deliberately insinuated knowledge of the Final Solution, devilishly making Germans complicit in the crime and binding them, with guilt and dread, to their leaders. By Benjamin Schwarz.
Books The Captive MindEdward Upward was one of the only writers of the ’30s to deal with Britain’s elephant in the room—fascism—but his career was forever warped by his communism. By Christopher Hitchens.
Books Theirs Truly: The Lowell-Bishop LettersThe letters between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop are one of the great poetic correspondences of all time—and became the real essence of their relationship. By Thomas Mallon. |
Books Theirs Truly: The Lowell-Bishop LettersThe letters between Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop are one of the great poetic correspondences of all time—and became the real essence of their relationship. By Thomas Mallon.
Books The Revenge of Karl MarxWhat the author of Das Kapital reveals about the current economic crisis. By Christopher Hitchens.
Books Cover to CoverPlayboy as parable; post-secular Sundays; genetic aesthetics; lax Britannica; and more.
Editor's Choice Designers’ DesignersThree books on three couturiers who rank among the greatest America has produced. By Benjamin Schwarz.
Books Demons and DictionariesA new book dissects Dr. Johnson’s pathologies and despair. By Christopher Hitchens.
Books Cover to CoverDopes on a rope; northern lights; exhuming Fleming; classless etiquette; and more.
Editor's Choice GlobaloneyA new report from the country’s top intelligence office predicts a fundamental change in America’s foreign policy—but not the change Barack Obama has promised. By Benjamin Schwarz. |