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

Articles on the urban plantscape; a prestigious math award; Commencement humor

Our news roundup includes articles on landscape architecture professor Peter del Tredici and mathematics professor John Tate, and Commencement humor from The Onion.

Panic in the Year Zero: A Poem by D.A. Powell

A poem by D.A. Powell, from the 2010 Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises. [audio]

2010 Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises with Natalie Zemon Davis and D.A. Powell

Historian Natalie Zemon Davis speaks on "The Possibilities of Friendship." Also featuring poet D.A. Powell with a vivid new work. [video/audio]

Skyscrapers as symbols

In Tall Building: Imagining the Skyscraper, Scott Johnson explores the semiotics of these urban giants.

by Jonathan Shaw

David Warsh reviews Robert J. Samuelson's The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath

David Warsh reviews Robert J. Samuelson's The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath

by David Warsh

The Green-Pea Memo

Poking fun “at the academic-bureaucratic mentality of university life”

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections

Quotation Q & A

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Gutenberg 2.0: What future for libraries?

Harvard’s libraries deal with disruptive change.

by Jonathan Shaw

Libraries in the digital era: links to Harvard collections and a humorous video

Highlights from the digital collections of the Harvard libraries, and video humor