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Three book covers displayed on a light background, featuring titles and authors.

Must-Read Harvard Books Winter 2025

From aphorisms to art heists to democracy’s necessary conditions 

by Gabriella Gage

Producer Jeff Schaffer sits between star Larry David (left) and another cast member on the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” set.

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer talks shop

TV writer and producer Jeff Schaffer on how to be funny

by Stuart Miller

Photograph of a giant cuttlefish, “Sepia apama,” at Cabbage Tree Bay, Australia: among Peter Godfrey-Smith’s subjects for his research on cognition

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Portrait of Harvard Law School dean—and perfectionist—Ezra Thayer circa 1910, who found the school’s dire finances overwhelming.

Review of Kimball and Coquillette, “The Intellectual Sword,” by Lincoln Caplan

The making of the modern Harvard Law School

by Lincoln Caplan

Black and white photo of a group of Vietnamese children, titled “Schoolchildren Playing Cards”

Photographer Mark Erickson’s street scenes of 1990s Vietnam

Photographer Mark Erickson on the Vietnam he never knew

by Dan Kelly

Dan Chiasson at home in front of a “sometimes delightful, sometimes disturbing” mural by David Teng Olsen, which appears in The Math Campers.

Dan Chiasson's Poetry and Criticism

Poet-critic Dan Chiasson and The Math Campers

by Lydialyle Gibson

Illustration of bearded farmer, from anthology of Yiddish children’s literature

Excerpt from Mirim Udel’s book “Honey on the Page”

Miriam Udel’s passion for children and Yiddish children’s literature

Black-and-white photograph of Karl Puchner in 1937 with his wife, young son, and a tiny, barely visible swastika button on his jacket

Review of Martin Puchner’s “The Language of Thieves”

A German American scholar is unsettled by an ancestor’s secret.

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Photograph of cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie from the book “Science and Cooking”

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

An illustration of social capital, the subject of the book being reviewed, in the form of an individual versus a group working together

Review of new Putnam and Garrett book, “The Upswing,” by Idrees Kahloon

In search of optimism, a sweeping interpretation of American social history

by Idrees Kahloon