The Books <em>The Atlantic</em> Loved—And Hated

This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here.

Working on the Books desk of a 167-year-old publication offers incredible opportunities—and dredges up some insecurities. Will our judgment hold up to future readers’ evaluations? Is the work we’re putting out worthy of the magazine’s illustrious traditions?’s literary coverage has taken on both the task of criticism—or situating a work in its era, evaluating its ideas, and considering its symbols—and of reviewing which titles are worth people’s time and why. Today, my job includes editing book recommendations and essays on new releases, and contributing to avowedly ambitious projects such as our recent . This involves listening to the opinions and disagreements of our contemporary readers. But there’s also an entire archive full of people who talk back, disagree, and weigh in, too.