Books & Literary Life

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

Open Book: A New Nuclear Age

Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy’s latest book looks at the rising danger of a new arms race.

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Book review: “A Terrible Country” is a cold, welcome wind

Keith Gessen’s second novel deftly interweaves politics and personal history.

by Maggie Doherty

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Open Book: Excerpt from “Tyrant,” by Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt mines Shakespeare to interpret modern times.

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

“An Academic Life” by Hanna Holborn Gray reviewed

The former University of Chicago president and Harvard Corporation fellow crafts a timely memoir.

by John S. Rosenberg

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

“Our Towns” highlights a positive force in American life

James ’70 and Deborah Fallows ’71 explore “what the hell is happening in America.”

by Lincoln Caplan

"I want one more shot!": profile of TV writer Nell Scovell

TV writer Nell Scovell looks back on Just the Funny Parts.

by Sophia Nguyen

Can Science Justify Itself?

Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now defends science from modern-day foes.

by Ada Palmer