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

See Their Faces

Confronting “some of the most challenging images in the history of photography”

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Publishing The Harvard Advocate Despite the Pandemic

The coronavirus delays—but can’t stop—the revered literary magazine.

by Kristina DeMichele

A correspondence corner for not-so-famous lost words

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

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

Gifts for the arts

Holiday gifts that support the arts

by Nell Porter-Brown

Ross Douthat’s conservative conservatism, a profile by Lydialyle Gibson

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat’s journey through American decadence and upheaval

by Lydialyle Gibson

Lorenzo Tañada

Brief life of a Philippine patriot: 1898-1992

by Christopher Capozzola

Photographer Mark Erickson’s street scenes of 1990s Vietnam

Photographer Mark Erickson on the Vietnam he never knew

by Dan Kelly

Dan Chiasson's Poetry and Criticism

Poet-critic Dan Chiasson and The Math Campers

by Lydialyle Gibson