"Exit Right” traces the political transformations of Ronald Reagan, Christopher Hitchens, and others.

The Times's film critic writes as though a review can still make or break a work of art. It can't.

After his brother’s death, the writer began to reconsider the science behind life.

A new book ignores the disturbing history of finance in America.

David Denby dives deep into the English classes of three high schools in his new book “Lit Up.”

How self-immolation threatens the Chinese government.

Robert Lowell adored intelligent women and treated them terribly.

Ian Buruma’s memoir of his grandparents follows a tradition of haunting elegies by Jewish descendants.

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?