Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
How Adam Ehrlich Sachs Writes Absurd and Beautiful Fiction
The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.
by Eric Olson
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
Boston by Foot’s “Dark Side of Boston” tour
“Stories the Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want you to hear”
Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon in the Spotlight
Fresh efforts to understand the writer’s history and craft
Laura van den Berg and “The Third Hotel”
In Laura van den Berg’s fiction, the deeply strange is ordinary.
Excerpt from “The Known Citizen” by Sarah E. Igo
A sweeping history of the idea of privacy in America
Recent books with Harvard connections
Recent books with Harvard connections
Book review: “A Terrible Country” is a cold, welcome wind
Keith Gessen’s second novel deftly interweaves politics and personal history.
Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
“Our Towns” highlights a positive force in American life
James ’70 and Deborah Fallows ’71 explore “what the hell is happening in America.”
Open Book: Excerpt from “Tyrant,” by Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Greenblatt mines Shakespeare to interpret modern times.