"From the longest-running, most trusted book review in America comes a celebration of The New York Times Book Review, including reviews, essays, and interviews, showcasing the best, worst, funniest, strangest, and influential literary coverage since its beginnings in 1896"--

Brown University star professor Weinstein offers a rich, passionate, lyrical look at life's two essential stages--growing up and growing old--explored through great works of literature.

John Updike's sixth collection of essays and literary criticism opens with a skeptical overview of literary biographies, proceeds to five essays on topics ranging from China and small change to faith and late works, and takes up, under the heading "General Considerations," books, poker, cars, and the American libido. The last, informal section of Due Considerations assembles more or less autobiographical pieces--reminiscences, friendly forewords,...

"From the bestselling author of The Shakespeare Wars and Explaining Hitler comes a stirring manifesto on love in the modern age. From one generation to the next, our understanding of love is constantly evolving, be it courtship, sex, or romantic relationships. The science of love is advancing, too, from the study of chemicals responsible for our behavior in love to the mining of data generated using dating apps. Now, more than ever, we find ourselves...

Presents literary criticism on the works of nineteenth-century writers of all genres, nations, and cultures. Critical essays are selected from leading sources, including published journals, magazines, books, reviews, diaries, broadsheets, pamphlets, and scholarly papers. Criticism includes early views from the author's lifetime as well as later views, including extensive collections of contemporary analysis.

America's foremost novelist reflects on the themes that preoccupy her work and increasingly dominate national and world politics: race, fear, borders, the mass movement of peoples, the desire for belonging. What is race and why does it matter? What motivates the human tendency to construct Others? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid?Drawing on her Norton Lectures, Toni Morrison takes up these and other vital questions bearing on identity...