A new history of the environmental movement places too much emphasis on famous figures like Rachel Carson and shies away from confronting failures.

A new biography traces Rhys’s life of self-sabotage, excess, and devotion to art.

A lifelong striver who wrote about lifelong strivers, Hazzard was perpetually dissatisfied with the world she grew up in.

A conversation with Ryan O’Hanlon, author of “Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game’s Analytics Revolution”

Here are the in-depth stories our editors and readers alike loved this year.

The Nebraska senator is finally getting out of politics after years of never really getting into it.

How the consulting firm’s cost-cutting logic devoured America

In David Quammen’s books, intrepid scientists hunt down viruses and avert crises. The story of Covid-19 offers no such resolution.

Their new book, “What World Is This?” examines human connection, vulnerability, and grief.

In his 1854 book “Hard Times,” the great British novelist satirized the utilitarian underpinnings of the Effective Altruist movement.

The FBI’s first director built the agency around some of his own worst instincts.

A new book traces the long history of cloaking racism in the language of resistance to an overbearing federal government.

Adrian Hon’s book “You’ve Been Played” warns against the abuses of game logic in work and politics.

Stephanie LaCava’s novel and David Cronenberg’s film “Crimes of the Future” each imagine a world without pain.

For 26 years, Eliot wrote intense, passionate letters to Emily Hale. Should they change the way we read his poetry?

How Americans lost faith in the possibility of self-government

“Our America” presents a mournful, terrible, exhilarating, and honest tour of the United States.

A new book exalts the heyday of music magazines, when electric prose reigned and egos collided.

In Ryan Lee Wong’s novel, a young activist gets caught up in his own idealism.

Lucy Sante’s new book uncovers the story of New York’s pursuit of water, and the homes and communities destroyed in the process.