Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
Tara Menon’s Debut Novel Combines Friendship, Grief, and Climate Disaster
The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.
Tracy K. Smith to Speak at Harvard Alumni Day
An alumna and faculty member at a new Harvard tradition
Fugitive Pedagogy
Jarvis Givens rediscovers the underground history of black schooling.
Open Book
Michael Ignatieff on Abraham Lincoln on solace
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections
Music and Language, Reconciled
Matthew Aucoin on opera
Looking for the Real Stan Lee
Biographer Abraham Riesman plumbs the dark mysteries of the Marvel auteur
by Dan Kelly
Professor Steven Pinker on Thinking Straight
An excerpt from the preface of Pinker’s 2022 book Rationality
War, Misremembered
Elizabeth Samet, of West Point, reinterprets the American understanding of World War II.
Border Crossing
Author Rudy Ruiz carries on his Mexican-American family’s storytelling tradition.
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections