Books & Literary Life

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

From Appalachia to Harvard, a Woman’s Struggle to Find Herself

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

by Nina Pasquini , Nell Porter-Brown

Great books teach life lessons: Christopher Beha reads the Harvard Classics cove

A new book documents a Princetonian’s year-long immersion in the Harvard Classics, the venerable "Five-foot Shelf" of Great Books.

Feeding an Addiction

Enlisting the food industry in the fight against obesity

Letters & Letterman

Bill Scheft ‘79 writes comedy for David Letterman, as well as novels.

by Craig Lambert

Cultures in Conflict

Paul M. Barrett reviews “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West,” by Christopher Caldwell ’83

by Paul M. Barrett

Shuttered Behind Bars

In a new book, photographer Bruce Jackson presents old ID photo portraits from an Arkansas prison.

by Craig Lambert

Off the Shelf

Recent books with Harvard connections

"Days With the Family Realist"

A poem for the 2009 Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises

Slaying Dragons

A crime novelist explores the deepest cracks in the human heart.

by Nell Porter-Brown

The Tall Book, by Arianne Cohen, describes the lives of tall people.

Arianne Cohen ’03 celebrates “life from on high” in a new book that discusses tall people's perspectives and prospects.

The Bible and the Almanac

How Pete Seeger got his start: an excerpt from Alec Wilkinson's new biography, The Protest Singer