Hidden Figures
How an environmental historian accidentally discovered the Morris sisters, influential but long-overlooked 19th-century naturalists
The Rolling Stones, Out of Time
On the heels of Hackney Diamonds, the Rolling Stones’ first original studio album in 18 years, a new book collects rare and never-before-seen images of the band, photographed by Bill Wyman, Terry O’Neill, and others
“A Castro or Worse”
Patrice Lumumba won the Congo independence in 1960, but his suspected Soviet sympathies led to his overthrow. A new book reveals the man behind the myth—and the C.I.A.’s role in his murder
Murder, They Wrote
This month’s best mystery books pile on the Halloween scaries with a mix of religious cults, international terrorism, and the lottery
A Portable Feast
A new book pairs Dwight Garner’s complementary obsessions: reading and eating
Family Values
In a new book, a son pays homage to his mother, a muckraking investigative journalist
The Girl with the Gimlet Eye
New York writer Natasha Stagg translated her exacting cultural critiques into work for big brands. Her latest book grapples with questions about social media, identity, and authenticity in our increasingly online world
The Life and Legend of Maggie Higgins
She was one of the few female war correspondents assigned to W.W. II and Korea. A new book details Higgins’s intrepid life, both in the field and amid the misogyny of the 20th-century news industry
His Back Pages
Alongside the opening of the Bob Dylan Center, in Tulsa, comes a giant new volume of handwritten lyrics, letters from friends including George Harrison, and rare manuscripts
After-School Activity
While spies are frequently portrayed as hardened, middle-aged men, a new book reveals that undercover agents are often twentysomething women
Arnold’s Fourth Act
“Calves are the biceps of the legs!”—and other pearls of wisdom from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new self-help book
Kids These Days
A delightful new picture book explores one of children’s favorite pastimes: speculating about the future
Hip-Hop and Happening
Three new coffee-table books celebrate hip-hop—which originated in New York’s South Bronx 50 years ago—as a musical genre and cultural movement
The Final Debrief
Who was John le Carré? A new documentary and book uncover fresh clues
The Shock of the Old
An exhibition of 28 nearly 400-year-old paintings was the global cultural event of 2023. Why?
A Closed Book
With its opaque criteria and global purview, judging literature’s prestigious Nobel Prize is often a thankless task
