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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

Andrew Shtulman illustrates imagination with an image of children riding a cloud as if it were a horse.

Off the Shelf

Recent books with Harvard connections

Painting, The storming of the Bastille and arrest of the Governor M. de Launay, July 14, 1789, artist unknown

How Revolutions Happen

Robert Darnton on the origins of the French Revolutionary temperament

Illustration depicting blueprints of life, from a single cell to a whole human body

Life’s Blueprints

The development of developmental biology

by Jonathan Shaw

Stock photo, caring for patient in hospital bed

“Shotgun” Diagnosis

The virtues of inaction in delivering medical care

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt standing off a red, white, and blue mural he painted after George Floyd’s death. Floyd's right hand is bandaged after he was attacked while painting the mural.

Getting His Reps in

Anwar Floyd-Pruitt’s wildly profuse art

by Lydialyle Gibson

Illustration of housing outside a central city

State-Sponsored Discrimination

The role of zoing law and housing in making America more unequal—and what to do about it

Ben Purkert headshot

The Men Who Can’t Be Saved

Novelist Ben Purkert’s playfully serious look at masculinity

by Stuart Miller

Historic photo of camping in Yosemite National Park, 1915

Off the Shelf

Recent books on camping outdoors, economic opportunity, the women of NOW, and more

Amir Bitran

Making Music Out of DNA Loops

Composer and biophysicist Amir Bitran ’16, Ph.D. ’23

by Nancy Walecki

Octopus on floor of flooded Southeastern Florida parking garage

“You Need to Move”

A vivid account of climate change and resilience