Women who write plays; Covid and the theater; attacks on health workers; why books are delayed.
Inside the curious case of Dawn Dorland v. Sonya Larson.
In “The Radical Potter,” Tristram Hunt writes about the life and times of Josiah Wedgwood, the man behind the brand once synonymous with fine china.
Native Americans’ warnings of environmental catastrophe inspired the landscape of “Dune.” Now their tribal lands are flooding.
In “Read Until You Understand,” Farah Jasmine Griffin explores how books have served as instruction manuals to guide her through difficulty and triumph.
And other revelations from the actor’s second memoir, “Baggage.”
Farah Stockman talks about “American Made,” and Benjamín Labatut discusses “When We Cease to Understand the World.”
Karina Yan Glaser’s home in Harlem is full of children, books, plants and animals (just the way she likes it).
Adept at reimagining classic tales, he often made sure that his books included Black characters and themes.
As we celebrate our 125th anniversary, join us on a trip through the archives to see some of our spectacular reviews, interviews ands essays
We’ve used the story of her life as a kind of shorthand for the disabled experience, as if there were just one. But we are here and we are many.
What did the Book Review look like in 1896, in 1916, in 1962? Scroll down to see what it looked like — and how it changed — through the decades.
Here’s how we reviewed now-famous mysteries by the likes of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Dashiell Hammett and more.
Fifty years ago, the Times reporter Neil Sheehan took a hard look at America’s conduct in Vietnam.
You might think that celebrated adult authors writing for kids is a new trend. It isn’t.
This collection — which appeared seven years after the Southern Gothic writer’s death in 1964 — was reviewed by Alfred Kazin.
Dinosaurs in the 20th century? In 1912, Sherlock Holmes’s creator invented the template that Michael Crichton would follow almost eight decades later.
Our reviewer called “Ulysses” the “most important contribution that has been made to fictional literature in the 20th century.” That doesn’t mean he liked it.
To our reviewer, the poet’s novel was “the kind of book Salinger’s Franny might have written about herself 10 years later, if she had spent those 10 years in Hell.”
In the deep, sprawling 1977 story of Milkman Dead, the reviewer Reynolds Price found evidence for “the possibility of transcendence within human life.”
Mario Puzo, who reviewed this collection of the conservative thinker's essays, found himself charmed despite the politics.
In 1962, our reviewer described this radically feminist novel — now considered Lessing’s most influential work — as “a coruscating literary event.”
Reeling from a divorce, a writer sought solace in Italy, India and Indonesia. There, she found peace — and plenty of material for a blockbuster memoir.
The Times would later call this 1995 memoir of a hardscrabble Texas childhood “one of the best books ever written about growing up in America.”
In 2020, as Covid-19 raged and protests swept the country in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Claudia Rankine wrote this poem for the Book Review.
The New York Times Book Review first appeared on Oct. 10, 1896, but its roots can be traced back to its very first issue of The Times on Sept. 18, 1851.
In 1925, the Book Review raved about the “sensitive” love poems and “piercing” satire from a young star of the Harlem Renaissance.
This tale of Gilded Age New York City became, in 1921, the first novel by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize.
The Chilean novelist was living in exile when her first novel was published in 1985. “In a way, I feel that I am working for my country, even if I don’t live there,” she told us.
The Book Review’s letters page — the internet message board of its day — was filled with lively, opinionated missives from readers and authors.
The novel’s headline-making candor and explicitness led the Book Review to assure its readers, “It is a book one can very well get along without reading.”
A satirical, multigenerational family saga set during the waning of the colonial British Empire, this 2000 debut established its author as a prodigy of the novel form.
This fictional portrait of Henry VIII’s scheming aide Thomas Cromwell — the first volume in a trilogy — won the Man Booker Prize in 2009.
“It is felt that there is something in the Negro experience that makes it not quite right for the novel,” Ellison told us when “Invisible Man” was published in 1952. “That’s not true.”
In 1913, The Times declared Cather’s “novel without a hero” to be “American in the best sense of the word.”
Vladimir Nabokov wondered in 1949 whether the French existentialist’s novel was even worth translating.
This brilliant 1976 memoir evokes the author’s Chinese immigrant family and summons the ghosts who haunt it.
Diane Johnson chatted with the confident writer in 1977, asking him to explain what made him a self-proclaimed “authority” on all things literary.
In 2006, our reviewer correctly predicted that this father-son tale would eclipse the popularity of McCarthy’s 1992 hit, “All the Pretty Horses.”
In 1974, Roger Angell celebrated four new biographies of the Bambino.
This 2015 homage to James Baldwin identified racism at the heart of the American dream.
In this 1989 novel, a young woman comes to understand her place in a Chinese family — and in the world — through visits with her aging aunts.
A memoir and a history of Iran’s turbulent 20th-century politics, one comic strip frame at a time.
A classic Japanese novel echoes Jane Austen, with instructive contrasts.
“I am working in the African American literary tradition,” the novelist told us in 2001. “That’s my aim and what I see as my mission.”
The best-seller lists as we know them today have their roots in the Aug. 9, 1942, issue — but the Book Review has been tracking sales for much longer than that.
When her short-story collection “Woman Hollering Creek” was published in 1991, the author opened up about her dream car, writing poetry and her parents.
This classic story of a single mother’s struggle against poverty, published in 1946, would become the first novel by a Black woman to sell a million copies.
The blockbuster forerunner of today’s self-help guides was both sensible and superficial, according to The Times’s reviewer in 1937.
From covers to marketing to awards, why do novels by women get different treatment than books by male authors? In 2012, Meg Wolitzer took on the elephant in the library.
This 1961 masterwork offered new, vibrant ways to think about how city neighborhoods ought to look.
“Really, don’t people know the first thing about the South?” Welty asked The Times in 1970, when her novel “Losing Battles” was published.
When Toklas — Gertrude Stein’s partner — published this cookbook, it was reviewed by Rex Stout, the creator of the food-loving detective Nero Wolfe.
Eleven years after “The Silence of the Lambs,” Hannibal Lecter returned. Stephen King called him “the great fictional monster of our time.”
James Baldwin, reviewing this headline-making novel in 1976, called it “a study of … how each generation helps to doom, or helps to liberate, the coming one.”
A book series from Penguin will feature leading writers on the legacy of Black figures including W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope Franklin, Toni Morrison and Stevie Wonder.
Nadifa Mohamed is a Booker Prize finalist for her novel “The Fortune Men,” a story about a false accusation and the tragedy that resulted.
Robert Kolker, who recently wrote about a case involving a friendship torn asunder for The Times Magazine, explains how he approached his reporting and what he thought about the online discourse around the story.
In her new book, Jessica Nordell examines ways to overcome unexamined stereotypes and the harm they cause.
Schiff’s “Midnight in Washington” is that rare memoir by a politician that actually has something to say.
In “The Days of Afrekete,” by Asali Solomon, a woman hosting a dinner party for her soon-to-be-disgraced husband spends time remembering a woman she loved in college.
Engage with the reader. Tell them why you think they’ll like a book. And never suggest just one.
“The Book of Mother,” a novel by the French writer Violaine Huisman, depicts a charismatic, unstable woman through her daughter’s eyes.
Buyers’ letters are controversial — and not necessarily very effective. But when you keep losing bidding wars, it helps to at least name the future you want.
In “Orwell’s Roses,” Rebecca Solnit argues that the English writer was driven not merely by political rage but by a love of beauty and nature.
Mark McGurl’s “Everything and Less” examines the impact the tech giant has had on literature itself.
“The Writing of the Gods,” by Edward Dolnick, offers a fresh account of the discovery in Egypt of the giant slab, and of the competition to decipher its symbols.
In his memoir “Unprotected,” Billy Porter recounts his lifelong struggle to heal the deep wounds buried under the sheen of his charismatic presence.
Alex von Tunzelmann’s “Fallen Idols” looks at the arguments surrounding 12 figures from history, and what they tell us about both the past and the present.
Wil Haygood’s “Colorization” feels crisp and urgent while covering a lot of ground: from the earliest pioneers to the careers of Sidney Poitier, Lena Horne, Spike Lee and many others.
The powerhouse children’s publisher, known for Harry Potter, had been passed from father to son until Iole Lucchese, a top executive, was given control.
The protagonist of “Oh William!” is a famous author whose books have a lot in common with ones written by the creator of Lucy Barton.
The best-selling author, whose new book, “The Judge’s List,” is about a murderous member of the bench, talks about the Supreme Court, wrongful convictions and what it means to be “review-proof.”
Six new paperbacks to check out this week.
Mallon talks about Franzen’s “Crossroads,” and Joshua Ferris discusses “A Calling for Charlie Barnes.”
The cocktail experts David Wondrich and Noah Rothbaum have completed “The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails.”
State lawmakers and the Anti-Defamation League condemned a school official’s advice to “make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”
Marketing a book is an art form, a delicate match of writer and approach. Ward Sutton imagines all the ways this could have gone wrong for famous authors in the past.
Four new picture books draw in young readers with ghosts, ghouls and vampires — not to scare them but to amuse them.
In the early 20th century, the building became a meeting place for many of the writers, artists, actors and activists who defined a new and vibrant Black culture.
For the author, the process of creating and tending her garden in the English countryside is akin to that of shaping a book.
Five articles from around The Times, narrated just for you.
Zohra Saed, who teaches at the City University of New York, has rallied the literary community to help another poet and his family get to safety.
Dealing with horror on the screen and on the page can help you deal with horror in the real world.
“The Ruin of Everything,” “Hao” and “Variations on the Body” explore fraught relationships and the long shadow of war.
T.L. Toma’s second novel, “Look at Us,” follows a wealthy couple who embark on a sexual misadventure with their au pair.
Readers respond to recent issues of the Sunday Book Review.
His 200 books, among them “Hatchet” and “Dogsong,” inspired generations with their tales of exploration, survival and the bloody reality of the natural world.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
The “Today” host and “CBS Evening News” anchor shares her story, from her suburban childhood to her trailblazing media career.
“Life Sciences” follows the youngest in a family of women plagued by mysterious, unheeded illnesses.
“Born in Blackness,” by the former New York Times correspondent Howard W. French, is a deeply researched account of the continent’s often overlooked role in the development of the modern world.
The deplorable conditions at the New York prison complex. Also: The joy of audiobooks; airline vaccine mandates; Bond, James Bond.
A new work by Caryl Churchill, the final installment in Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell saga and a Larry Kramer play deploy their running times with varied success.
In her new memoir, Liara Roux writes with an intimate, anthropological eye about her experiences as a sex worker.
Working in the 1970s and ’80s, his scholarship helped to cement African-American studies as an academic discipline.
A major American theater planned to produce nine plays by men and one by a woman this season. Why did it take a male playwright to change that when women have flagged such inequities for years?
Born out of the American civil rights movement, Black artists’ coalitions thrived in the 1960s and ’70s. Now, a new generation is discovering their power.
Chris Hadfield went viral as an astronaut singing David Bowie in orbit. Now he has written a Cold War thriller packed with cosmic action.
In this review of a biography by Matthew Sturgis, one playwright takes the measure of another.
A selection of books published this week.
Our editor recommends four new graphic books coming this season.
In an essay adapted from remarks he delivered at PEN America’s annual literary gala, the renowned Harvard scholar and author argues that readers and writers must be allowed to engage freely with subjects of their choice.
A historian of the nuclear age, he and his co-author, Kai Bird, won a 2006 Pulitzer for their book about the scientist behind the atom bomb.
Carole Angier’s “Speak, Silence” is the first major biography of the renowned German writer who put people he knew into his work, infuriating many of them.
In his new memoir, “One Friday in April,” Donald Antrim tells his own story and argues that a suicide attempt is “a disease process, not an act or a choice.”
After his beloved stuffed toy is hurled out the car window, a boy and its despised replacement, “The Christmas Pig,” traverse an underworld of loss.
The author of “Beautiful World, Where Are You” turned down an offer from an Israeli publisher to translate the novel to Hebrew, citing her support for Palestinians “in their struggle for freedom, justice and equality.”
In “All of the Marvels,” Douglas Wolk went down a very deep rabbit hole to find the essence of what he calls the “epic of epics.”
In her novel “LaserWriter II,” Tamara Shopsin visits the free-spirited world of Tekserve, a beloved Mac repair shop in 1990s Manhattan.
“American Made,” by Farah Stockman, is a deeply reported account of three workers at a ball bearing plant in Indianapolis, as the factory closes down and they lose their jobs.
In “Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds,” Mondiant Dogon, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, recounts a saga of horror, frustration and hope.
In “The Book of Magic,” a family is determined to break a centuries-old spell.
In her new book, Victoria Chang brings together letters, photos, marriage certificates, floor plans and other documents to examine memory and loss.
“Concepcion,” by Albert Samaha, combines the epic sweep of global history with an intimate family narrative.
“How High? — That High,” her new story collection, is rooted in the dramatic potential of affairs and erotic regret.
“Small Pleasures,” by Clare Chambers, features the lone woman journalist at a 1950s suburban English newspaper, whose life is upended when she’s assigned to investigate an unusual story.
“On Animals” is a collection of essays on subjects great and small, from orcas to pigeons to lions and tigers and panda bears.
The Kunsthaus Zurich built an extension to display masterpieces from a private Swiss collection. But critics say the works are tainted by the source of their owner’s wealth.
“State of Terror” is a geopolitical thriller about the race to keep nuclear devices from being detonated in American cities.
The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125. That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? We’d like to hear from you. For the month of October we’ll take nominations, in November we’ll ask you to vote on a list of finalists and in December we’ll share the winner.
“Silverview” features a young bookstore owner in an English seaside town, caught up in an investigation involving two cunning spymasters.
After you finish Lisa Unger’s new novel, “Last Girl Ghosted,” you might think twice before swiping right.
In “Concepcion,” Albert Samaha writes about several generations of his family, from their long history in the Philippines to their move to the United States.
In “Play Nice But Win,” Mr. Dell delves into the drama behind some of the biggest deals of the past decade.
Lizzie Johnson talks about the reporting that went into her book “Paradise,” an account of the Camp Fire that ravaged California in 2018.
Elliott talks about her new book, and Phoebe Robinson discusses “Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes.”
In a series of poems, updated throughout her life, Diane di Prima tracked the course of her own radicalism as it waxed and waned.
The comic has a publishing imprint, TV deals, even a primer on leadership she wrote after noting the absence of Black women’s perspectives in business books.
In Jeff Zentner’s “In the Wild Light,” a brilliant girl who loves science and a soulful boy who writes poetry join forces to escape pain and poverty.
For the 9-year-old narrator of Padma Venkatraman’s “Born Behind Bars,” life was but a dream.
On Oct. 25, join The New York Times Book Review and special guests for performances of favorite letters and reviews from the archives, trivia and more.
Ricardo F. Jaramillo, a finalist of the 2019 Modern Love College Essay contest, illuminates his writing process.
The historical and biographical essays in “Out of the Sun” reveal the constraints of the white, Western narrative.
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Gurnah, the author of 10 novels, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Here are The Times’s reviews of his work.
El escritor tanzano, que se trasladó a Reino Unido como refugiado en los años 60, fue galardonado por su “discernimiento inflexible y compasivo de los efectos del colonialismo”.
The Tanzanian writer, the first Black winner since Toni Morrison, was honored for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism.”
In her new book, “Hooked,” the Broadway and “Younger” actor opens up about how she collaged and cross-stitched her way out of anxiety and loss.
A new bookstore in the East Village pays tribute to all our animal friends.
I’m a deputy editor and art director on the Culture desk. Here are five things I've been watching and reading.
The musical will feature the theatrical debut of the Roots’ Black Thought, who will be writing the music and lyrics and be in a lead role.
Audiobooks aren’t a cheap shortcut to reading. Sometimes they elevate a book beyond its text alone.
James Han Mattson’s “Reprieve” is a horror novel with questions of identity and power at its core.
Critical race theory battles hit libraries.
A selection of books published this week.
The Education Briefing is compiling a list of great reads for kids.
Our children's books editor recommends new middle grade and picture books.
Here are six possible contenders.
In a new memoir, the showbiz siblings recall their experiences growing up on “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Star Trek” and other Hollywood classics. But they weren’t all happy days.