Books & Literary Life

Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.

Book cover featuring vibrant underwater plants and coral with the title "Under Water" by Tara Menon.

Tara Menon’s Debut Novel Combines Friendship, Grief, and Climate Disaster

The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.

by Andrés Muedano

Head and torso of a man painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

A monumental book reveals a monumental work of art

Nicholas Callaway publishes the Sistine Chapel in closeup.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Historic photograph of heap of fabric scraps

Excerpt from “Shoddy,” by Hanna Rose Shell

“From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags”—a surprising account of scrap

An illustration showing a human head in profile, suggesting the elements of distinctive Western psychology

Excerpt from “The WEIRDEST People in the World,” by Joseph Henrich

Reinterpreting the distinctive psychology of the human West

Photograph of author Justin Deabler

“Lone Stars”—an HLS grad’s semi-autobiographical debut novel

Fiction about “the power that comes to us when we uncloset ourselves”

by Lydialyle Gibson

Historic images of Francis Drake and Elizabeth I, who feature in a new book by Laurence Bergreen

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Chapter & Verse

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones poses stylishly in a studio

Profile of Radhika Jones

Radhika Jones at the helm of Vanity Fair

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

A Zoom screen shot shows guest speaker Isabel Wilkerson, interviewer Don Lemon, and Harvard professor David R. Williams

Isabel Wilkerson speaks at Harvard about racism storytelling and public health

Author Isabel Wilkerson kicks off a Harvard speaker series on storytelling and public health.

by Lydialyle Gibson

An illustration by James Steinberg shows a heavenly hand extending down to the U.S. Capitol and attempting to influence members of Congress

Benjamin Friedman on faith and American socioeconomic policy

How faith shapes economic and social policy

Archival photograph of John F. Kennedy as an undergraduate, circa 1939, studying papers

Fredrik Logevall, “JFK: Coming of Age…” excerpt

An unusual senior thesis