Rosa Brooks wanted to fix law enforcement. She decided to become a police officer.

Zakiya Dalila Harris’s psychological thriller grapples with ambition and inequality in the workplace.

Luke Holland’s film “Final Account” makes a study of evasion, denial, and self-justification among living participants in Hitler’s Third Reich.

What happens when online investigators and detectives-for-hire take on intelligence work?

In the Biden era, the Reaganite consensus is finally breaking down.

Louis Menand’s new book traces the decline of a defining ideal.

Why does “Klara and the Sun” serve up its big questions so explicitly?

Why did “A Brief History of Time” make its author the most famous scientist in the world?

The immense power of Jeff Bezos’s empire reveals a country that has been falling apart for quite some time.

How the master of suspense got his sadistic streak

In her poems and “The Cancer Journals,” Lorde fought to name her experience.

How thought leaders resurrected the myth of a carefree prehistoric lifestyle

Recent works inspired by his fiction struggle to reckon with his racist fantasies.

How we came to rely on the courts, instead of the democratic process, for justice

Chloé Zhao’s film risks romanticizing a harsh life in the gig economy.

Two new movies emphasize the singer’s spirit of defiance and political courage.

Grace Kelly, Joan Didion, and Sylvia Plath were all guests. For some women, it was a launch pad. For others, it was a trap.

The essays in “Bland Fanatics” trace today’s crises to a long history of violent colonial oppression.

“A Promised Land” tells of a country that needed a savior.

How could someone so telegenic, so witty, and skilled in politics have missed out on higher office?