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Books

Paired Images of Melting Glaciers and Flooding Wetlands Tell the Story of Global Climate Change

Photographer Tina Freeman’s exhibition ‘Lamentations’ at the New Orleans Museum of Art juxtaposes two different environments

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2019

What to read when you’ve been bitten by the travel bug

The 19-page volume features three original stories, advertisements and a table of contents.

Miniature Manuscript Penned by Teenaged Charlotte Brontë Will Return to Author’s Childhood Home

The tiny volume, one of six created for a series, will now join four surviving counterparts on view at the Brontë Parsonage Museum

British novelist Ian Fleming on the beach near Goldeneye, his Jamaica home, on February 23, 1964

For Sale: Trove of Tempestuous Letters Exchanged by Ian Fleming and His Wife, Ann

“In the present twilight, we are hurting each other to an extent that makes life hardly bearable,” wrote the James Bond author in one missive

Flight map of Air India destinations from 1962.

The Sleek History of Airline Maps

A new book explores the evolution of cartography throughout more than a century of commercial air travel

Representatives of the American Library Association deliver a petition protesting new e-book limitations to Macmillan Publishers.

Why New Restrictions on Library E-Book Access Are Generating Controversy

Macmillan Publishers will only allow libraries to purchase one copy of an e-book during the first eight weeks following publication

Deadly perils awaited prospectors who flocked to the Yukon. In April 1898, on a single day, 65 men on the Chilkoot Trail died in an avalanche. Typhoid also took its toll.

Gold Fever! Deadly Cold! And the Amazing True Adventures of Jack London in the Wild

In 1897, the California native went to the frozen North looking for gold. What he found instead was the great American novel

J.D. Salinger (center left with his hand on his chin) on the deck of the M.S. Kungsholm, 1941

Get a Rare Peek Into the Life of Reclusive Writer J.D. Salinger

A new exhibition at the New York Public Library includes never-before-seen photographs, letters and manuscripts

A map shows Mexico and its provinces—which included Mexican Texas—in 1822.

When Mexico’s Immigration Troubles Came From Americans Crossing the Border

Before Texas fought for its independence, thousands of settlers from the east entered the country unlawfully in search of land and agricultural opportunity

A sculpture depicting Irish author James Joyce is seen behind his grave in Fluntern cemetery in Zurich

Trending Today

Dublin Wants to Reclaim James Joyce’s Body Before the Centenary of ‘Ulysses’

Critics question whether the author, who died in Zurich after a 30-year exile, ever wanted to return home, even in death

The Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium, is one of dozens of ceilings featured in the new book "The Art of Looking Up."

Virtual Travel

A Tour of the World’s Most Spectacular Ceilings

In her new book ‘The Art of Looking Up,’ Catherine McCormack captures stunning ceilings around the globe

The team hypothesized that works published during the so-called “good old days” would be more uplifting than those penned during times of hardship

What Millions of Books Reveal About 200 Years of Happiness

Researchers analyzed eight million texts to gauge how lifespan, warfare and the economy affect national well-being

Joint winners Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo attend the 2019 Booker Prize Winner Announcement at the Guildhall in London

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo Win the 2019 Booker Prize

Some critics are lamenting that Evaristo, the first black woman to receive the award, has to share it

Olga Tokarczuk won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, while Peter Handke was awarded this year's prize

Nobel Prizes in Literature Awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke

Last year’s Nobel Prize in Literature was postponed following a sexual assault scandal involving members of the Swedish Academy

One of the scrolls being scanned by the Diamond Light Source and digitally deciphered.

New Research

Light Billions of Times Brighter Than the Sun Used to Read Charred Scrolls From Herculaneum

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. carbonized papyrus scrolls, which may now be readable

A Fremont Correctional Facility inmate reading a book on the top bunk of his cell.

Prison Book Bans Are ‘Arbitrary and Irrational,’ Report Finds

PEN America’s report coincided with the annual Banned Books Week

Renia Spiegel in Przemyśl circa 1930

The Poignant Wartime Diary of a Jewish Teenager Living in Poland Has Been Published in English

Renia Spiegel was killed by the Nazis when she was 18 years old

The Hondius map of 1589 inset depicts Drake's encampment at New Albion, Portus Novas Albionis.

Did Francis Drake Really Land in California?

New research suggests that one of the state’s greatest historians had a hand in perpetrating an infamous hoax

“We call ourselves the Great Convener,” says the new Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, “but really we’re a Great Legitimizer. And I want the Smithsonian to legitimize important issues."

Lonnie Bunch Sizes Up His Past and Future at the Smithsonian

Bunch’s new memoir details the tireless work it took to build NMAAHC and offers insights into his priorities as Smithsonian Secretary

Kurt Vonnegut in 1988

A New Kurt Vonnegut Museum Is Opening in His Hometown

The Indianapolis museum will feature a re-creation of the author’s writing studio and a “freedom of expression exhibition,” among other attractions

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