Books & Literary Life

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

America’s Past, Opera's Future: 11 New Books from Harvard Authors

These newly released novels, histories, and memoirs grapple with identity in all its forms.

by Gabriella Gage

Casey Cep reviews “These Truths: A History of the United States,” by Jill Lepore

Jill Lepore excavates the history of America, down to its bedrock values.

by Casey N. Cep

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Boston by Foot’s “Dark Side of Boston” tour

“Stories the Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want you to hear”

by Nell Porter-Brown

Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon in the Spotlight

Fresh efforts to understand the writer’s history and craft

by Brandon J. Dixon

Laura van den Berg and “The Third Hotel”

In Laura van den Berg’s fiction, the deeply strange is ordinary.

by Lydialyle Gibson

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

Excerpt from “The Known Citizen” by Sarah E. Igo

A sweeping history of the idea of privacy in America

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

“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