For writers of historical fiction, fact fades and feeling persists.

Does it matter what kind of father Hunter S. Thompson made?

In 1912, the popular third-party candidate stressed "the right of the people to rule" in the first election to truly test the primary system.

In her new memoir, the novelist abandons English for Italian.

From Grace Paley’s “black voice” to Tony Kushner’s fractured gay identity in “Angels in America,” what makes a story representative?

How an adolescent love affair with "Atlas Shrugged" opened up the world of radical politics.

A new book tells of the summer Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth spent in Ostend in 1936.

A new history of early 20th-century American progressivism puts eugenics at the center.

Roy Peter Clark has made a whole career out of his guides to better writing. But does his fiction manual actually work?

How one group's search for the promised land in 1848 became a complete disaster

Constitutions were a great democratic advance. Unfortunately ours is broken.

Garth Greenwell’s "What Belongs to You" is the Great Gay Novel for our times

A decade since James Frey's memoir was exposed, we're still addicted to fiction packaged as truth.

A new biography of Aaron Swartz tells the story of the ongoing fight between open-data philosophy and the federal government.

A new book explores the new world of medical tourism, an industry that's made Hungary the capital for glamorous dental work.