Books & Literary Life

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

These Harvard Mountaineers Braved Denali’s Wall of Ice

John Graham’s Denali Diary documents a dangerous and historic climb.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Susan Dunn reviews Jefferson biography by Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf

Thomas Jefferson's “fractal” view of American self-governance

by Susan Dunn

How the Dark Room Collective sparked "total life" in literature

How the Dark Room Collective made space for a generation of African-American writers

by Sophia Nguyen

Dick Bolles continues to improve “What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Job counselor Dick Bolles ’50 keeps “chugging away.”

by Bailey Trela

Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Shaping Richard Henry Dana Jr.

How Richard  Henry Dana Jr. came to hate slavery and injustice

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books cover the origins of mambo, American economic growth, cancer, landscape, and more

Tania James’s dueling artistic impulses

A writer balances structure and spontaneity in her latest novel.

by Aria Thaker

Architect Anthony Acciavatti’s work mapping the Ganges River

A decade spent exploring India’s dynamic sacred river

by Nell Porter-Brown