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Hidden Figures

How an environmental historian accidentally discovered the Morris sisters, influential but long-overlooked 19th-century naturalists

“A Castro or Worse”

Patrice Lumumba won the Congo independence in 1960, but his suspected Soviet sympathies led to his overthrow. A new book reveals the man behind the myth—and the C.I.A.’s role in his murder

The Rolling Stones, Out of Time

On the heels of Hackney Diamonds, the Rolling Stones’ first original studio album in 18 years, a new book collects rare and never-before-seen images of the band, photographed by Bill Wyman, Terry O’Neill, and others

The Bigger Picture

When Chaplin Got Chucked

Murder, They Wrote

This month’s best mystery books pile on the Halloween scaries with a mix of religious cults, international terrorism, and the lottery

A Portable Feast

A new book pairs Dwight Garner’s complementary obsessions: reading and eating

Family Values

In a new book, a son pays homage to his mother, a muckraking investigative journalist

Britney’s Version

The Girls Next Door

His Back Pages

Alongside the opening of the Bob Dylan Center, in Tulsa, comes a giant new volume of handwritten lyrics, letters from friends including George Harrison, and rare manuscripts

The Life and Legend of Maggie Higgins

She was one of the few female war correspondents assigned to W.W. II and Korea. A new book details Higgins’s intrepid life, both in the field and amid the misogyny of the 20th-century news industry

Back of the House to Full House

The Girl with the Gimlet Eye

New York writer Natasha Stagg translated her exacting cultural critiques into work for big brands. Her latest book grapples with questions about social media, identity, and authenticity in our increasingly online world

After-School Activity

While spies are frequently portrayed as hardened, middle-aged men, a new book reveals that undercover agents are often twentysomething women

Court of Last Resort

A Closed Book

With its opaque criteria and global purview, judging literature’s prestigious Nobel Prize is often a thankless task

Kids These Days

A delightful new picture book explores one of children’s favorite pastimes: speculating about the future

Hip-Hop and Happening

Three new coffee-table books celebrate hip-hop—which originated in New York’s South Bronx 50 years ago—as a musical genre and cultural movement

The Final Debrief

Who was John le Carré? A new documentary and book uncover fresh clues

Arnold’s Fourth Act

“Calves are the biceps of the legs!”—and other pearls of wisdom from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new self-help book

Big Screens, Small Pictures

The Shock of the Old

An exhibition of 28 nearly 400-year-old paintings was the global cultural event of 2023. Why?

Facing the Music

An homage to Summer Stock, an overlooked 1950s musical starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly