Liberal arts majors have the skills to translate their studies of history, philosophy and politics into impressive career trajectories. Michael S. Roth reviews “A Practical Education” by Randall Stross and “You Can Do Anything” by George Anders.
An auction of interior designer Alberto Pinto’s personal furnishings collection, plus a book of his interiors, honor his genre-traversing talent
The Château de l’Horizon, on the French Riviera, was a playground for the idle rich as well as intellectuals, royalty and heads of state. Moira Hodgson reviews “The Riviera Set” by Mary S. Lovell.
A definitive biography shows a Soviet leader changing his mind. Max Boot reviews “Gorbachev” by William Taubman.
The spy master’s latest Smiley novel entwines today’s world with a lost one. Henry Hemming reviews “A Legacy of Spies” by John le Carré.
An epic history destroys the idea of a single global ideological battle. Paul Kennedy reviews “The Cold War” by Odd Arne Westad.
Sam Sacks on novels by Jesmyn Ward and others.
Tom Nolan on the latest from Louise Penny, T. Jefferson Parker and Sue Grafton.
Conflict between the U.S.’s greatest rival and its closest regional ally may soon test the thesis that well-off societies don’t go to war. Robert D. Kaplan reviews “Asia’s Reckoning” by Richard McGregor.
Reimagining a Western technology for Chinese characters led inventors in all sorts of directions. Peter Neville-Hadley reviews “The Chinese Typewriter” by Thomas S. Mullaney.
A memoir from the hilariously honest folksinger Loudon Wainwright III: “I’ve had the blues for about sixty years now.” Tony Fletcher reviews “Liner Notes.”
A former FBI special agent and the author of “Three Minutes to Doomsday: An Agent, a Traitor, and the Worst Espionage Breach in U.S. History” on spies and counterspies.
John McPhee offers reflections and advice from his long career writing creative nonfiction. Ben Yagoda reviews “Draft No. 4.”
Meghan Cox Gurdon takes us through the woods and beyond.
He blended a sensitive palate with a con artist’s easy ability to flatter and amuse. Wine collectors lost millions of dollars. Patrick Cooke reviews “In Vino Duplicitas” by Peter Hellman.
Though the universe is a cold, indifferent place, we can still find value in “terrestrial” meanings, like raising children or making breakfast. Joanna Bourke reviews “The Human Predicament” by David Benatar.
In Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Golden House,” out Sept. 5, a tycoon from India reinvents himself in Manhattan as the Obama years end and the Trump administration begins.
As Pius IX asserted papal supremacy, Ignaz von Döllinger’s opposition to the pontiff’s authority made him an international celebrity. D.G. Hart reviews “The Pope and the Professor” by Thomas Albert Howard.
The author was taken aback when he observed an AI program teach itself to play an arcade game—much better than its human designers. Frank Rose reviews “Life 3.0” by Max Tegmark.
And have you heard about the newsletter for deaf atheists?
