Recently, I was invited to the Dalkey Book Festival, in Ireland, to speak at a session titled “Books That Changed the World.” I assumed that, as a Shakespeare scholar, I was expected to talk about the ...

Amid last week’s parade of proclamations about beardo generals and Navy-vessel aesthetics, there was one announcement that felt wholesomely, uncomplicatedly good: “Reading Rainbow” is back — at least ...

PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression, says that while the number of book bans in schools is declining, it’s still “rampant.” According to PEN’s report on book bans in ...

Over 3,700 unique books were banned during the 2024-2025 school year, more than double the number of titles PEN America tracked in the 2021-2022 school year when it began counting. The nonprofit, ...

This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. As a Soviet Jewish immigrant, the son of Reagan-loving anti-Communists, I grew up in a ...