Morgan Neville’s new documentary offers glimpses of a Bourdain we’ve never seen before—and captures the toll his work took on him.

The creator of James Bond had an unremarkable career in intelligence and considered his own books “piffle.”

Legal pundits have failed to pinpoint the greatest problems with the former attorney general.

From “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” to “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” what do bestselling guides to self-improvement reveal about the United States?

Helen Scales’s fascinating book about life in the deepest parts of the ocean carries a powerful warning.

It’s easy to hate the internet. Patricia Lockwood is the rare writer who delights in its chaos.

Hollywood rarely lets women have fun—and get away with it.

A new PBS documentary investigates the legacy of one of the most dangerous pollutants on the planet, an unsettling cover-up, and the exhausting fight for accountability.

According to Amanda Montell’s new book, “Cultish,” the jargon and technical language of fanaticism is surprisingly common.

Why do game studios keep imploding?

The pop star is attempting to end her oppressive conservatorship, but it’s not just her father and a judge who robbed her of agency.

Joshua Cohen’s inventive new novel imagines Benjamin Netanyahu’s childhood, and digs deep into his father Benzion’s vision of Jewish history.

A Peacock docuseries raises important questions about Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate, but the answers remain a maddening mystery.

In an unequal economy, even some of the winners are unhappy.

Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s exorcisms offer the fantasy that somebody can halt the world’s sufferings.

Fearful of increasing participation, elites of the era attempted to rein in democracy.

Four writers reflect on the legacy of Janet Malcolm, who died this week at 86.

In unflinching prose, Malcolm described the ordinariness of American life and the erratic impulses beneath the surface.

The protagonist of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s most famous musical helped build the world in which his modern-day heroes are struggling to live.

The big publishing houses routinely push out political books that are less than truthful, but the former president’s lies seem to be a bridge too far.